Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, 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.
Chicago Sun-Times: Madigan proving the very real elephant in the virtual room for Illinois Democrats during convention by Mitchell Armentrout
Although an all-virtual Democratic National Convention has led to a few awkward moments as party leaders adapt to a new web-based format, there weren’t any technical glitches behind an uncomfortable pause Tuesday afternoon as top Illinois Democrats were asked a pointed question about embattled Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
The Southwest Side powerhouse has become the elephant in the virtual conference room as questions swirl around his connection to a federal bribery case leveled against ComEd. But in the absence of an in-person convention, the longtime speaker — and members of the Illinois Democratic Party he chairs — haven’t had to worry about scrums of reporters chasing them down with questions about calls for Madigan to resign.
That changed at the end of a virtual news conference previewing the second night of the convention for the Illinois delegation, when a spokeswoman for Madigan relayed a question from NBC-5 political editor Carol Marin to a panel that included U.S. Representatives Robin Kelly and Jan Schakowsky, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and Mary Morrissey, executive director of the state Democratic Party.
Los Angeles Times: SCU Lightning Complex fires burn across five counties in Northern California by Leila Miller
Firefighters on Tuesday battled fires that covered 25,000 acres across five counties in Northern California.
The SCU Lightning Complex, made up of about 20 fires, began early Sunday and involves areas of Contra Costa, Alameda, Santa Clara, Stanislaus and San Joaquin counties, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials. It was 0% contained as of early Tuesday afternoon.
“These fires continue to burn in deep, inaccessible terrain and with our low humidity and our high daytime temperatures, it’s making the crews’ job very tough to fight this
NOLA.com: John Bel Edwards calls election plan 'woefully inadequate,' says he won't sign it by Sam Karlin and Mark Ballard
Gov. John Bel Edwards said Tuesday he won’t support the emergency election plan put forth by Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin, setting up a donnybrook with Ardoin and other Republicans that could end up with the federal courts deciding how Louisiana voters will cast ballots in the Nov. 3 presidential election.
The Democratic governor, who previously worked with Ardoin on an emergency election plan for the summer elections, said the November plan is a "woefully inadequate" one he won’t sign unless it is revised.
Ardoin dug in, issuing a statement saying he won't make any changes. That means the state is moving toward the November presidential election without any changes to address the pandemic.
South Bend Tribune: Notre Dame moves to online classes, closes public spaces for 2 weeks to stop COVID-19 spike by Cory Havens and Jeff Parrott
The University of Notre Dame on Tuesday amped up its effort to slow a rash of COVID-19 case with a series of new measures, including online classes and the closure of public spaces, for at least two weeks.
The university’s president, The Rev. John Jenkins, announced the moves in a live-streamed address late Tuesday afternoon.
For the next two weeks, undergraduate students will meet online only. Off-campus students are not to come on campus, and gatherings are limited to no more than 10 people, Jenkins said. Dormitories will be limited to residents only.
“The objective of these temporary restrictions is to contain the spread of the virus so we can get back to in-person instruction,” he said. “If these steps are not successful, we will have to send students home, as we did last spring.”
He also emphasized the importance of following social distance, hand-washing and mask protocols.
“The virus is a formidable foe. For the past week, it has been winning,” Jenkins said. “Let us, as the Fighting Irish, join together to contain it.”
Washington Post: As Breonna Taylor protests stretch into 12th week, calls for officers’ arrests intensify by Josh Wood and Tim Craig
LOUISVILLE — Five months after Breonna Taylor’s death, Kentucky’s largest city has become the epicenter of the national movement for racial justice, weathering more than 80 days of protests as activists pour into the streets calling for charges against the police officers involved in her fatal shooting.
Backed by professional athletes and A-list celebrities, the protests have put mounting pressure on investigators and prosecutors, who are urging patience even as officers in other high-profile deaths have been quickly suspended, fired and charged.
“We’re not going to wait forever,” said attorney Lonita Baker, appearing with Taylor’s mother Thursday after meeting with Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R). “We do want this resolved quickly and accurately.”
Buzzfeed: The Latest TikTok Trend Is Venting About Your MAGA Parents by Kadia Goba
WASHINGTON — TikTok is where Bridgette Olek told the world she had to leave her father’s Minnesota lake house after he discovered she’d protested at a Black Lives Matter rally in Fargo, North Dakota.
Tensions between the two had been brewing for a while. He’s Republican and a Trump supporter. She’s “the polar opposite.” Olek said the final break came when she went to a protest instead of entertaining family members who were visiting for the weekend. Her father asked her to leave, so she packed up her van and headed to other parts of Minnesota, then North Dakota, then Arizona, and finally North Carolina — for now.
“You know those feisty white girls y'all be talking about,” she said while driving in the TikTok video, over audio of Kash Doll’s “Ice Me Out.” “The ones with racist parents that are supporting Black Lives Matter? Yeah, a bitch just got kicked out of her house for supporting Black Lives Matter. I mean, it’s time.”
She added, “I’m 23.”
Reuters: Senate committee concludes Russia used Manafort, WikiLeaks to boost Trump in 2016 by Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Russia used Republican political operative Paul Manafort and the WikiLeaks website to try to help now-U.S. President Donald Trump win the 2016 election, a Republican-led Senate committee said in its final review of the matter on Tuesday.
WikiLeaks played a key role in Russia’s effort to assist Republican Trump’s campaign against Democrat Hillary Clinton and likely knew it was helping Russian intelligence, said the 966-page report, which is likely to be the most definitive public account of the 2016 election controversy.
The report found President Vladimir Putin personally directed the Russian efforts to hack computer networks and accounts affiliated with the Democratic Party and leak information damaging to Clinton.
Asked about the report at an event in Yuma, Arizona, Trump said: “I don’t know anything about it. I didn’t read it.”
Guardian: Depression in British adults doubles during coronavirus crisis by Pamela Duncan
The number of adults in Britain with depression has doubled during the coronavirus pandemic, official data shows, prompting calls for an urgent national plan to avert a “looming mental health crisis”.
Almost one in five (19.2%) people experienced depression in June, almost double the 9.7% with symptoms in the nine months to March, according to a survey of 3,500 participants by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Younger adults, women, key workers and disabled people were among those most likely to suffer depression during the pandemic, as were those in households unable to afford an unexpected expense, according to the ONS.
While people across all age brackets were more likely to have experienced depression post-Covid, the greatest proportional increase was among those aged 16 to 39. Between July 2019 and March 2020, 11% of this group reported depression, rising to 31% in June.
DW: Coronavirus: Mexico 'flying blind' in pandemic response by Sandra Weiss
Mexico's COVID-19 response has become the stuff of memes. A popular one making the rounds on social media shows chief epidemiologist Hugo Lopez-Gatell surrounded by a cheering crowd (represented by characters from The Simpsons) and the words "The peak of the pandemic will be next week! (It doesn't matter when you read this tweet)."
Internet users and health experts alike have been critical of the government's approach to managing the pandemic. At first, the government played down the COVID-19 outbreak, said Julio Frenk, Mexico's health minister from 2000 to 2006. He told DW that when that didn't work, the government decided to use mathematical simulations to study the infection process, rather than start testing for the virus.
This ineffective approach has been combined with a mixed message on face masks: Lopez-Gatell initially described them as unnecessary, before eventually recommending their use, while President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador still rejects them to this day.
"People mistrust the government and only go to hospital when it's already too late," said Frenk, now the president of the University of Miami.
South China Morning Post: South China Sea clash raises Vietnam-Malaysia tensions after fisherman shot dead by Tashny Sukumaran
Malaysia and Vietnam must urgently work towards ridding their waters of illegal fishing, analysts said on Tuesday, as Hanoi pressed Kuala Lumpur for answers after a Vietnamese fisherman was shot dead by Malaysian maritime officials over the weekend.
Vietnam late on Monday said it had contacted Malaysia over the incident, which took place in Malaysian waters, and asked its officials in the country to investigate the death and protect the rights of other detained fishermen.
The incident occurred late on Sunday after Malaysia’s coastguard attempted to inspect two boats in waters east of Kelantan deemed to be engaged in illegal fishing.
The 19 Vietnamese crew members aboard the two boats “acted aggressively” and threw “diesel bombs” when they were ordered to surrender, Malaysia’s coastguard said in a statement. A warning shot was also fired but ignored, according to Kelantan Coastguard Director Muhd Nur Syam Asmawie Yaacob.
Everyone have a good evening!
