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 Sun-Times: Feds allege Kenilworth man wore Burberry coat and laughed as he stormed U.S. Capitol by Jon Seidel
Federal prosecutors have charged a man from a tony North Shore suburb who allegedly wore a Burberry coat and laughed as he participated in the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Christian Kulas, 24, was arrested at 6:12 a.m. Tuesday and later participated in a remote hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Fuentes. He is charged with unlawful entry of a restricted building and disorderly conduct on U.S. Capitol grounds, both misdemeanors.
Fuentes ordered Kulas released under the supervision of his mother to live at the family’s home in the 200 block of Sheridan Road in Kenilworth. Authorities also executed a search warrant at the residence Tuesday morning, said Joseph Fitzpatrick, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Lausch’s office.
The home, on the shore of Lake Michigan, sold for $4.5 million last year, according to the real estate website RedFin.
Boston Globe: Cooling centers were open but few came. Are they the best way to deal with scorchers? By Kate Lusignan and Camille Caldera
It was a blistering hot day, the third in a late spring heat wave. But some of the community cooling centers the city offers its residents were all but empty.
A community cooling center in the North End had no takers around noon Monday, as the thermometer hovered around 93 degrees. In Roxbury, another center had just two patrons enjoying its air-conditioned rooms.
As the number of 90-degree days has steadily climbed in the area, the sparse use of the city-funded cooling centers illustrated the challenges for cities trying to help people withstand the heat — a serious health threat, particularly for the elderly.
And with climate change promising an uptick in sweltering days, city governments around the nation are looking for new and more practical ways to keep people cool, including planting trees in hot spots and passing out free air conditioners to those who can’t afford them.
Heat is not just uncomfortable. It’s also a “major problem for health,” according to Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Wisconsin State Journal: Watch now: Madison School District to offer online option in fall after some students thrived virtually by Elizabeth Beyer
The Madison School District will offer online learning for up to 250 students in grades 6-12 at the start of the 2021-22 school year through a new online academy.
If successful, the Madison Promise Academy could be expanded beyond that. School Board member Ananda Mirilli said during a board meeting Monday that the academy stems from a desire to do things differently after the COVID-19 pandemic upended traditional models of public education.
“We learned that some students were very successful with virtual,” Superintendent Carlton Jenkins said.
Forty-two percent of Madison high school students chose to remain in online-only instruction after buildings opened back up in April under a hybrid model that offered two half days of in-person instruction per week.
That rate was two to more than three times greater than other districts across Dane County, and while Madison didn’t offer any explanation for why that might be, many of the surrounding districts offered notably more in-person learning time than Madison did. For example, the Middleton-Cross Plains School District offered high school students two full days of in-person learning as opposed to Madison’s two half days of in-person learning per week.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: COVID variant identified in India now detected in Georgia by Ariel Hart
The highly contagious coronavirus variant first seen in India and now overrunning Great Britain has been detected in Georgia, a potential threat to progress the state has made unless more people get vaccinated, health officials say.
The Georgia news came on the same day that the White House raised the alarm for the U.S. about the variant, designated B.1.617.2 and now called the “delta” variant. White House leaders including Dr. Anthony Fauci publicly urged people to get vaccinated ahead of the spread.
The vaccines do work against the delta variant, Dr. David Kessler, the White House’s Chief Science Officer on COVID-19, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In Britain, almost all of the people who have been hospitalized with the delta variant were not vaccinated. And while there are “breakthrough” cases where those who have been vaccinated catch the variant, they tend not to get as sick, health authorities say.
The Oregonian: Portland pays $195K to get rid of 2 more employees at dysfunctional bureau by Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
Two more employees accused of plunging a Portland city bureau into turmoil and dysfunction have accepted hefty payouts in exchange for their resignations.
Diane Riley and Meg Juarez received $101,897 and $93,496, respectively, to leave their supervisor roles at the Office of Community & Civic Life, according to copies of the agreements obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Each of the payouts is equivalent to the employee’s final yearly salary. The city of Portland routinely offers such so-called targeted severance agreements to stave off potential workplace lawsuits.
Since 2015, the city has paid nearly $3.3 million to 49 employees — including eight bureau directors — in exchange for their resignations, records obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive show.
Christian Science Monitor: Election laws, 2024, and the future of democracy by Peter Grier
It’s November 2024. The U.S. presidential election is over. The battle over who won is just beginning.
Ballot totals show the incumbent leading the national vote by a few percentage points. His margin in the Electoral College is smaller than in 2020, but seems clear.
Still, the challenger and his supporters are mounting a furious challenge to an election they say was close enough to have been tipped by fraud.
In Michigan, counting is in chaos. Local officials in conservative rural counties are refusing to certify vote totals. State legislators are suing the secretary of state, claiming she posted a link to an absentee ballot application on her website, which is illegal under a new law passed via a highly unusual voter petition procedure.
In Wisconsin, the challenger’s campaign is desperately trying to close the president’s 15,000-vote winning margin. The challenger’s lawyers are methodically combing the state’s nursing homes and residential care facilities, looking for instances where staff reminded residents to apply for absentee ballots, or helped fill them out. Both actions are now subject to criminal penalties.
New York Times: Kamala Harris, With Blunt Language on Border, Forges Immigration Image by Zolan Kanno-Youngs
MEXICO CITY — Before flying to Guatemala and Mexico on her first foreign trip, Vice President Kamala Harris faced questions over how she would approach her role as the face of President Biden’s plan to bolster the region and deter migration to the United States.
After weeks of criticism from Republicans and some moderate Democrats who argued that the administration lacked a clear strategy on migration, Ms. Harris came to Central America with a blunt response: The administration’s focus would be asserting control over its borders, even if that meant turning away, for now, those fleeing persecution and poverty whom the vice president has promised to help in the long run.
Ms. Harris was similarly candid about the need to address the root causes prompting migrants to make the long, dangerous trek north from Central America, despite the hundreds of millions spent by the United States to improve prospects in the region. In Guatemala, she announced that the United States will assist an anti-corruption panel that has been denounced by President Alejandro Giammattei — even as the Guatemalan leader stood watching.
But it was her comments on migration — telling migrants in Guatemala, “do not come” — that prompted a new round of criticism. Immigration advocates accused the vice president of undermining immigration law and Mr. Biden’s pledge to restore an asylum-processing system at the southwest border.
CNN: It's not just voting and Covid: How red states are overriding their blue cities by Ronald Brownstein (Analysis)
(CNN) Republican-controlled states have escalated their offensive against Democratic-controlled cities and counties this year to unprecedented heights, further deepening the trench between red and blue America.
From Key West, Florida, to Bozeman, Montana, from Atlanta to Houston, local communities predominantly governed by Democrats have seen more of their policy decisions overridden by Republican legislatures and governors.
This surge of state preemption began with aggressive
efforts by Republican governors to override local public health rules during the coronavirus pandemic, but in this year's legislative session it has spread to cover a panoramic range of issues. GOP-run states have reversed local decisions on everything from voting rules to police funding levels, from policies on homelessness and energy to zoning and fees on developers. In Key West's case, the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature even overturned a local ballot initiative barring giant cruise ships from docking in the small community.
"The level of preemption is only growing," says Brooks Rainwater, director of the Center for City Solutions at the National League of Cities. "We are just seeing this happen all throughout the country."
Washington Post: Senate approves sprawling $250 billion bill to curtail China’s economic and military ambitions by Tony Romm
The Senate voted on Tuesday to adopt an approximately $250 billion bill to counter China’s growing economic and military prowess, hoping that major investments in science — and fresh punishments targeting Beijing — might give the United States a lasting edge.
In a chamber often racked by partisan division, Democrats and Republicans found rare accord over the sprawling measure, known as the United States Innovation and Competition Act, as lawmakers warned that Washington risked ceding the country’s technological leadership to one of its foremost geopolitical adversaries.
The proposal commits billions of dollars in federal funds across a wide array of research areas. It pours more than $50 billion in immediate funding into U.S. businesses that manufacture the sort of ultrasmall, in-demand computer chips that power consumer and military devices, which many companies source from China. And it paves the way for the next generation of space exploration at a time when Washington and Beijing are increasingly setting their eyes on the stars.
Guardian: Ratko Mladić, ‘butcher of Bosnia’, loses appeal against genocide conviction by Daniel Boffey and Julian Borger
Ratko Mladić, the former Bosnian Serb commander nicknamed the “butcher of Bosnia”, will spend the rest of his life in prison after a UN court dismissed his final appeal against convictions for genocide and crimes against humanity, in a judgment hailed as “historic” by the White House.
Unlike previous appearances at the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, the 78-year-old showed little emotion as an hour-long reading of the judgment finally put an end to attempts to quash the charges against him.
Wearing a black suit and a sky blue tie, Mladić scowled, sat back in his chair and rested his chin on his hand as he listened to the rejection of each of his appeals against 10 convictions involving extermination, forcible transfers, terror, hostage-taking and unlawful attacks on civilians. He was the only person in court not wearing a mask.
CBC News: What we know about the Muslim family in the fatal London, Ont., truck attack by Andrew Lupton and Kate Dubinski
They arrived in Canada from Pakistan in 2007, ready to work hard to start a new life for their baby daughter.
Salman Afzaal, 46, his wife Madiha Salman, 44, and Salman's mother, Talat Afzaal, didn't have close relatives in Canada, but Halema Khan told CBC News that they became close to her family.
The couple, their daughter Yumna Afzaal, 15, and Salman's 74-year-old mother were killed Sunday after a black truck slammed into them as they were on an evening walk. Nine-year-old Fayez survived.
"We attended each other's happy events, sad events, always being there for each other," said Khan.
"It wasn't an easy journey for them, but they made it," Khan, her two children with her, said at the memorial set up at the scene of the attack.
"They worked day and night. They gave to the community, not just to the Muslim community, but to the general Canadian community."
The couple, their children and his mom developed new habits during COVID-19, including nightly walks, said Ahmed Hegazy, a friend of the family.
Sydney Morning Herald: Sydney slides down global liveability rankings by Daniella White
Sydney has fallen outside the top ten cities in the world liveability index in the first global rankings since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
The Economist’s 2021 global liveability survey saw Sydney’s ranking drop from third to 11th despite Australian cities dominating the top ten.
Six of the top ten highest-ranked cities are in New Zealand or Australia where “tight border controls have allowed residents to live relatively normal lives”, according to the survey.
Melbourne, previously ranked second, has dropped to the eighth position while Adelaide shot up the list to third, Perth to sixth and Brisbane to 10th.
Auckland was named the most liveable city thanks to its ability to contain COVID case numbers quickly and therefore lift restrictions earlier than most other parts of the world.
AlJazeera: Israel to allow right-wing march through Jerusalem’s Old City
Israel’s outgoing government has said a controversial march by far-right nationalists and pro-settler groups through occupied East Jerusalem’s Old City will go ahead next week, a decision taken a day after the event was scrapped due to security concerns.
Several right-wing Israeli groups had planned a so-called “March of the Flags” through the walled Old City’s Damascus Gate and into its Muslim quarter on Thursday, drawing warnings from Hamas – the group that governs the besieged Gaza Strip – of renewed hostilities should it proceed.
The far-right groups cancelled the march after police denied them a permit. But following a meeting of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet on Tuesday, his office said ministers had approved the march to be held next week.
“The parade will take place this coming Tuesday (June 15) in a format to be agreed between the police and the parade’s organisers,” a statement from Netanyahu’s office said.
A top Hamas official, Khalil al-Hayya, had warned Israel on Monday “against letting the march approach East Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound”.
Phys.org: Earth's meteorite impacts over past 500 million years
For the first time, a unique study conducted at Lund University in Sweden has tracked the meteorite flux to Earth over the past 500 million years. Contrary to current theories, researchers have determined that major collisions in the asteroid belt have not generally affected the number of impacts with Earth to any great extent.
Researchers have been studying geological series since the 19th century in order to reconstruct how flora, fauna and the climate have changed over millions of years. Until now, however, almost nothing has been known about ancient meteorite flux—which makes sense since impact is rare, and the battered celestial bodies quickly break down as they encounter Earth's oxygen. A new study published in PNAS shows how researchers in Lund have reconstructed meteorite bombardment towards Earth over the past 500 million years.
"The research community previously believed that meteorite flux to Earth was connected to dramatic events in the asteroid belt. The new study, however, shows that the flux has instead been very stable," says Birger Schmitz, professor of geology at Lund University.
Hollywood Reporter: Music’s “Secretary of Style”: June Ambrose Reflects on 30-Year Career, Creating Iconic Looks for Missy Elliott, Diddy and Others by Vincent Boucher
On a recent Zoom interview with THR, June Ambrose’s infectious spirit seemed to jump out of the frame. These days, when the always-in-demand stylist, costume designer and creative director isn’t juggling her starry musician client list (Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Missy Elliott, Puff, Busta Rhymes and more), she’s preparing for the debut in the fall of the first Puma collection under her own creative direction as well as serving as a fashion adviser and investor in the fitness company Clmbr. On top of all that, she’s about to turn the big five-oh after 30 years in the business.
“I feel about 25,” she laughs before talking about what it was like starting out in the early ’90s. “People always thought stylists were kind of one-dimensional and that it was like playing dress-up,” she says. “The impact in urban music was so much more powerful than just being dress-up. It changed everything and gave the artists a new superpower and confidence. It opened doors that were unimaginable and sat them in the front rows of Paris and Milan and on the cover of high-fashion magazines.”
Don’t forget Hunter’s News Roundup tonight.
Everyone have a good evening!