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.
Houston Chronicle: Hurricane Laura approaches Category 5 status as it nears Texas-Louisiana coast by Anna Bauman and Julian Gill
With winds topping 150 mph, Hurricane Laura is approaching Category 5 status as it barrels toward the Texas-Louisiana border.
As of 9 p.m., the system was located about 90 miles southeast of Port Arthur, moving toward the coast at about 15 mph. It remains on course to make landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border around midnight, according to the National Weather Service. A roughly 150-mile stretch of coastline from Sea Rim State Park, Texas, to Intracoastal City, Louisiana, is expected to take the brunt of the storm's impact.
The storm likely will be the strongest hurricane on record to strike the southwestern portion of the Louisiana coast, according to Space City Weather.
Heavy rains are beginning to spread onshore, and wind speeds and water levels are rising along the upper Texas and Louisiana coast. Harris County Flood Control District Meteorologist Jeff Lindner said at 10 p.m. that wind speeds near Cameron, Louisiana, were measured at 57 mph. The water level in that area was nearing 6 feet above normal.
Check out AKALib’s recently posted diary on this dangerous and historic storm that will be making landfall near the Texas-Louisiana border in a few hours.
Chicago Tribune: There’s been an awful lot of partying’: Northwestern University asks Evanston residents to report students who ignore COVID-19 precautions in off-campus gatherings by Elyssa Cherney
Northwestern University’s campus in Evanston is going to feel less crowded this fall, with residence hall capacity reduced to about 70% and more than half of all employees still working from home, school officials said Tuesday.
But those estimates didn’t fully assuage concerns from residents that students will instead move into neighborhood apartments and throw raucous parties, potentially accelerating the spread of COVID-19 in a suburb that has so far avoided an uncontrollable outbreak.
Residents raised the issue Tuesday evening during a 90-minute Zoom meeting, billed as a “community town hall,” to discuss NU’s plan for repopulating its suburban campus when classes begin next month.
As universities nationwide navigate reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic, a large share of student infections have been traced to illicit off-campus gatherings, forcing some schools to abandon plans for in-person learning.
True...Evanston has not had an uncontrollable outbreak; our positivity today was, like 2.5% of all tests and there are days where no positive tests for COVID are recorded.
Boston Globe: Markey leads Kennedy by notable margin in trio of new Senate polls by Victoria McGrane
A trio of new polls released Wednesday show Senator Edward J. Markey leading Joseph P. Kennedy III, as money continued to pour into the blockbuster Democratic Senate primary race, which has generated $29 million in spending among both campaigns and the collection of super PACs that support them.
A Suffolk University poll released Wednesday found Markey with a 10 point lead, outside the poll’s margin of error, beating Kennedy 51 percent to 41 percent, when voters who are leaning toward one candidate or the other are taken into account.
Two other polls released Wednesday also put Markey ahead of his opponent. Markey led Kennedy 52 percent to 40 percent including leaners in a survey of 800 likely Democratic primary voters by the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
In the other poll, a survey of 732 likely voters conducted by progressive thinktank Data for Progress, Markey was up 50 percent to 43 percent, when leaners were included.
Detroit Free Press: Feds to Whitmer: Turn over COVID-19, nursing home data. She blasts back response. by Dave Boucher
The U.S. Department of Justice wants Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and three other states governed by Democrats to turn over data related to nursing homes and COVID-19 deaths.
The governor agreed to provide the data, but blasted the request, labeling it a partisan stump aimed at helping President Donald Trump's re-election bid.
In a news release Wednesday, the department said the requests were sent to states "that issued orders which may have resulted in the deaths of thousands of elderly nursing home residents."
Whitmer defended her actions, arguing the letter relies more on politics than health policy.
"The fact that this letter was sent during the middle of the Republican National Convention week to four Democratic governors should make it crystal clear that this is nothing more than election year politics by an administration that is more concerned with the president's re-election campaign than protecting Michigan seniors," Whitmer said in a statement late Wednesday.
Buzzfeed: The Kenosha Shooting Suspect Was In The Front Row Of A Trump Rally In January by Ellie Hall, Amber Jamieson, and Tasneem Nashrulla
The law-enforcement obsessed 17-year-old who was charged with shooting and killing two people and injuring another in Kenosha during protests for Jacob Blake appeared in the front row at a Donald Trump rally in January.
Kyle Howard Rittenhouse’s social media presence is filled with him posing with weapons, posting “Blue Lives Matter,” and supporting Trump for president. Footage from the Des Moines, Iowa rally on January 30 show Rittenhouse feet away from the president, in the front row, to the left of the podium. He posted a TikTok video from the event.
Seven months later, Rittenhouse went with his rifle to the third night of Black Lives Matter protests in Kenosha after police shot and paralyzed Blake, an innocent black man. Rittenhouse attended as an armed vigilante, supposedly assisting police and protecting property in an unofficial capacity but instead he prowled the protest with a gun. Videos captured him fraternizing with law enforcement and attempting to get their attention.
By the end of the evening he was considered a fugitive on the run, and was arrested Wednesday morning in Antioch, Illinois, and is expected to be extradited to Wisconsin to face charges of first degree intentional homicide. Rittenhouse’s mother did not respond to a request for comment. The Lake County Public Defender’s office, who represented him in court today, told BuzzFeed News it does not comment on active cases.
CNN: Fauci says he was in surgery when task force discussed CDC testing guidelines by Jeremy Diamond, Kirsten Holmes, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta
"I was under general anesthesia in the operating room and was not part of any discussion or deliberation regarding the new testing recommendations" at that meeting, Fauci told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
"I am concerned about the interpretation of these recommendations and worried it will give people the incorrect assumption that asymptomatic spread is not of great concern. In fact it is," said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Washington Post: Maine sleep-away camps prevented coronavirus spread among more than 1,000 people, CDC report finds by Lena H. Sun
As school and public health officials look for ways to reopen classrooms safely throughout the country, a potential road map emerges from the experience of four sleep-away camps and the extensive measures they adopted to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus among more than 1,000 campers and staff members.
Their experience, described in a
federal study published Wednesday, shows the measures necessary to keep the virus at bay. The four camps in Maine conducted virus testing before and after campers arrived and made them quarantine. Campers and counselors were kept in the same groups while at the camp.
Face masks and physical distancing were employed, extensive cleaning and disinfection were frequent, and activities were conducted outdoors as much as possible, according to the study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Maine camps’ experience contrasts with that of a Georgia sleep-away camp where 260 children and staff members — three-quarters of the 344 tested — contracted the virus less than a week after spending time together in close quarters. A CDC study of the Georgia camp found that asymptomatic infection was common and potentially contributed to undetected transmission.
Los Angeles Times: Milwaukee Bucks’ refusal to play leads NBA to postpone all of Wednesday’s games by Dan Woike
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Milwaukee Bucks refused to play Game 5 of their NBA playoff series against the Orlando Magic in the aftermath of a police shooting 40 miles from their home arena, leading the NBA to postpone the games scheduled for Wednesday.
The decision comes as other teams inside the NBA bubble, predominantly Toronto and Boston, had discussed whether sitting out games would be a more effective statement against racism, police brutality and social injustice. The Lakers were scheduled to play Game 5 of their series against the Portland Trail Blazers at 6 p.m. PDT, but they decided to not play as well.
The Bucks didn’t take the court for pregame warmups Wednesday afternoon against Orlando. Magic players who were on the court eventually headed back to the locker room as did the game’s officials.
Magic players and staff left the arena at about 4:45 p.m. EDT. The Bucks remained in their locker room, guarded by NBA security and a team bodyguard, who wore sneakers with the names of victims of police violence like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, as well as the phrase “all lives matter” on his left shoe. By 5 p.m. the Bucks’ travel bags were all loaded onto their buses but the players and coaches remained in the locker room.
Reuters: Fired White House lawyer alleges retaliation by Trump: Democratic lawmakers by Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former White House lawyer contends he was fired for reporting concerns about President Donald Trump’s efforts to have Ukraine investigate Democratic rival Joe Biden and about alleged legal and ethical breaches by Trump’s national security adviser, Democratic lawmakers said on Wednesday.
Army Lieutenant Colonel Yevgeny Vindman filed an Aug. 18 complaint making the allegations with the Pentagon watchdog, the chairs of three U.S. House of Representatives committees said in a letter to acting Pentagon Inspector General Sean O’Donnell.
The lawmakers said Vindman also alleged National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and National Security Council Chief of Staff Alex Gray misused government resources, excluded women from meetings, and made sexist and demeaning remarks to female NSC staffers.
They urged O’Donnell to investigate whether Trump fired Vindman as deputy National Security Council legal adviser in retaliation for filing confidential reports with his superiors containing his allegations.
Euronews: Belarus: Dozens arrested at protests as Lukashenko changes tactics to quell unrest
Police in Belarus detained over 50 people across the country as protests demanding the resignation of the country's authoritarian leader entered their third week, officials said on Wednesday.
The renewed crackdown on protesters, who have been taking to the streets for more than two weeks, comes as authorities crank up the pressure on the opposition, jailing several activists, summoning others for questioning and selectively ordering dozens of demonstrators to appear in court.
The Belarusian Interior Ministry said 51 protesters were detained on Tuesday at rallies that spanned several cities. According to the Viasna human rights group, 15 people were detained in Minsk, the country's capital, where several thousand people rallied at Independence Square despite heavy rain, pushing for the country's longtime President Alexander Lukashenko to resign.
AlJazeera: Erdogan: Turkey will make no concessions in eastern Mediterranean
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned he would make "no concessions" in the eastern Mediterranean and that Ankara is determined to do whatever is necessary to obtain its rights in the Black Sea, Aegean and Mediterranean.
Speaking at an event on Wednesday commemorating the 11th-century military victory by Seljuk Turks over the Byzantine empire at Malazgirt, Erdogan also called on Turkey's counterparts to avoid mistakes that he said would bring their destruction.
"We don't have our eye on someone else's territory, sovereignty and interests, but we will make no concessions on that which is ours," Erdogan said, urging Greece to "avoid wrongs that will be the path to ruin".
"We will not compromise what is ours... We are determined to do whatever is necessary."
DW: New Zealand mosque shooter gets life imprisonment without parole
The gunman who killed 51 Muslim worshipers last year in New Zealand's deadliest shooting attack was sentenced to life imprisonment by a court on Thursday. He is the first person in the country to get a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
Judge Cameron Mander of the Christchurch High Court said that a finite term would not be sufficient.
"Your crimes, however, are so wicked that even if you are detained until you die it will not exhaust the requirements of punishment and denunciation," said Mander as he handed down a sentence unprecedented in New Zealand legal history.
"Your actions were inhuman,'' the judge said. "You deliberately killed a 3-year-old infant as he clung to the leg of his father…As far as I can discern, you are empty of any empathy for your victims."
The sentencing comes after three days of emotionally charged statements from survivors and the families of the victims in court. The shooter was largely emotionless throughout the proceedings, as the victims gave harrowing testimonies of what was New Zealand's worst terror attack and its impact on their lives.
Everyone have a safe and restful evening!
