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) Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor 7, 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: Illinois’ positivity rate creeps up as coronavirus kills 106 more residents by Mitchell Armentrout
Illinois’ COVID-19 testing positivity rate inched upward for a third straight day Tuesday as state public health officials announced the virus has killed 106 additional residents and spread to 5,644 more.
The new cases were confirmed among 66,786 tests submitted to the Illinois Department of Public Health, raising the state’s average positivity rate over the last week to 7.4%. That’s increased from 6.8% over the weekend but is still down from over 10% this time last month.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s health team has warned of a potential increase in cases and positivity due to transmission at holiday gatherings, but it could take a few weeks for that to show up in the data, experts say.
Generally, though, the state’s key COVID-19 metrics have gradually improved since Thanksgiving following a record-breaking resurgence.
Colorado public health officials on Tuesday confirmed the presence of the new variant of COVID-19 first discovered in the United Kingdom, saying the state is the first to identify the strain in the United States.
The variant is believed to be as much as 70% more contagious, but not have more severe in symptoms, than previous strains of the novel coronavirus. It is also thought the COVID-19 vaccines the state began distributing earlier this month will protect against the variant, according to a news release from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ office.
Colorado’s state lab confirmed the presence of the strain in an Elbert County man in his 20s. The person is isolating and will remain so until public health officials clear him. He has no history of traveling, according to the news release.
“The health and safety of Coloradans is our top priority and we will closely monitor this case, as well as all COVID-19 indicators, very closely,” Polis said in a statement. “We are working to prevent spread and contain the virus at all levels.”
Texas Tribune: Texas officials push hospitals, local health authorities to administer COVID-19 vaccines faster as infection rate reaches "red flag" levels by Shawn Mulcahy
Top Texas officials again urged health care providers to administer more coronavirus vaccines Tuesday, the same day the state reported that the proportion of Texans whose coronavirus tests come back positive has hit levels not seen since a summer wave of cases that overwhelmed some hospitals.
The state reported Tuesday that 163,700 Texans had been vaccinated with at least one dose of the vaccine. About 1.2 million doses have been allocated to providers across the state through the first three weeks since their arrival, according to the Department of State Health Services.
"A significant portion of vaccines distributed across Texas might be sitting on hospital shelves as opposed to being given to vulnerable Texans," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a tweet Tuesday evening.
That tweet came after health officials asked providers that received doses of the COVID-19 vaccine to “immediately vaccinate” all eligible Texans, including people 65 and older and those who are at least 16 with a qualifying medical condition. That renewed push echoed a statement Dr. John Hellerstedt, commissioner of the Texas DSHS, sent to providers last week directing them to “administer their entire allotment with all deliberate speed.”
Louisville Courier Journal: Louisville police seek to fire 2 detectives connected to Breonna Taylor's shooting death by Tessa Duvall, Darcy Costello, and Bailey Loosemore
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Louisville Metro Police Department is seeking to fire two more officers in the police shooting of Breonna Taylor — one who sought the "no-knock" search warrant for her apartment and a second who fired the fatal bullet.
Detective Joshua Jaynes received a pretermination letter Tuesday from interim Chief Yvette Gentry after a Professional Standards Unit investigation found he had violated department procedures for preparation for a search warrant execution and truthfulness, his attorney, Thomas Clay, said.
Detective Myles Cosgrove, who the FBI concluded fired the shot that killed Taylor, also received a pretermination letter, his attorney, Jarrod Beck, confirmed Tuesday evening.
It's possible more officers involved in the raid or the connected narcotics investigation could face additional discipline. LMPD has not released its Professional Standards Unit investigation, which The Courier Journal previously reported included at least six officers.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Suicide rate decreased for the first time in a decade in 2019, CDC reports by Bethany Ao
New data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the national suicide rate last year decreased for the first time since 1999.
While the suicide rate for 2019 declined by 2.1% — a total of 833 fewer deaths — from the previous year, experts said this progress could be derailed by the coronavirus pandemic. The effects of COVID-19 on suicide won’t be measurable for some time, but rates are expected to have increased during 2020 as mental health worsened.
“We don’t know why it happened,” said Dan Romer, research director at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and a specialist in media and social influences on adolescent health. “The decrease didn’t happen so much in the Western part of the country, which has the highest rates, and among certain age groups. That’s why we don’t see much reason for optimism.”
Romer said the rise in suicides over the last two decades until 2019 has puzzled researchers. Some believed increased social media use may have affected rates of depression, but study results are mixed. And while the Great Recession had an impact on suicide, especially among young people, suicide rates continued to increase even when the economy rebounded around 2013, bucking the established link between economic hardship and suicide, Romer said.
Mother Jones: “We Didn’t Know What We Had Until It Was Gone.” by Monica Bauerlein
The newspaper where I learned not to take no for an answer died quietly, a week before the election. The cover story was on hard times in the restaurant industry; the illustration, in classic alt-weekly fashion, was a fork bent so that it raised a middle digit. The piece included the line “You have to adapt or die. Sometimes you adapt and die.”
And with that, City Pages in Minneapolis–St.Paul joined the nearly 2,000 papers that have gone dark around the nation, from the Sudan Beacon News in Texas to the Rocky Mountain News in Colorado. The last time someone ran the numbers, in 2018, one in five of America’s newspapers had been shuttered, but the true devastation is likely much greater.
The erosion of news is a huge danger to democracy, and that’s finally starting to be recognized. But there’s been less said—perhaps because, quietly, some are relieved—about a specific part of that tragedy: the withering of the alternative press, whose rambunctious tradition stretches back to Tom Paine’s pamphlets. It’s a tradition Mother Jones stands in, too, and one that, at this moment of struggle for democracy, seems badly needed.
Reuters: Breakingviews - U.S. is promised land for online gambling
HONG KONG (Reuters Breakingviews) - U.S. online gambling is one of 2021’s better bets. After a painful pandemic, wagers will become a welcome source of tax dollars across America. The potential market for internet sports betting could be worth up to $23 billion, twice the annual gaming revenue of Nevada casinos, according to company estimates compiled by Bernstein. Websites and old-school casino companies are set to pocket winnings.
Online betting shops have faced tricky odds in the United States. A 2018 Supreme Court ruling allowed states to legalise sports bets. But the federal Wire Act still complicates some ventures by limiting gambling across state lines. Only a handful of states have taken a chance on an online sports book, with much of the action in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Washington Post: N.Y. prosecutor hires forensic accounting experts as Trump criminal probe escalates by Shayna Jacobs and Jonathan O’Connell
NEW YORK — The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has retained forensic accounting specialists to aid its criminal investigation of President Trump and his business operations, as prosecutors ramp up their scrutiny of his company's real estate transactions, according to people familiar with the matter.
District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. opened the investigation in 2018 to examine alleged hush-money payments made to two women who, during Trump’s first presidential campaign, claimed to have had affairs with him years earlier. The probe has since expanded, and now includes the Trump Organization's activities more broadly, said the people familiar with the matter. Vance’s office has suggested in court filings that bank, tax and insurance fraud are areas of exploration.
Vance has contracted with FTI Consulting to look for anomalies among a variety of property deals, and to advise the district attorney on whether the president’s company manipulated the value of certain assets to obtain favorable interest rates and tax breaks, according to a person with knowledge of the investigation who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter remains highly sensitive. The probe is believed to encompass transactions spanning several years.
New York Times: Biden Criticizes Trump on Vaccine Distribution and Pledges to Pick Up Pace by Thomas Kaplan and Rebecca Robbins
WASHINGTON — President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Tuesday criticized the speed of vaccine distribution under the Trump administration and promised to step up the pace when he takes office, while delivering a sober warning about the toll of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr. Biden offered a bleak assessment of the months ahead, saying they would be “a very tough period for our nation,” and he exhorted Americans to make the sacrifices necessary to overcome the devastation of the virus.
“It’s going to take all the grit and determination we have as Americans to get it done,” he said.
He warned that if the current pace of administering vaccines under President Trump continued, “it’s going to take years, not months,” to vaccinate the nation. And he said he had directed his team to prepare a more aggressive effort once he takes office in three weeks, pledging “to move heaven and earth to get us going in the right direction.”
BBC: Croatia earthquake: Seven dead as rescuers search rubble for survivors
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake has struck central Croatia, with reports of many injuries and at least seven deaths.
A 12-year-old girl was killed in Petrinja, the prime minister said as he visited the town.
Five people died in the nearby town of Glina, his deputy said. A seventh victim was found in the rubble of a church in Zazina, state media reports.
Petrinja's mayor said around half the town had been destroyed and people were being pulled from the rubble.
The earthquake could be felt in the Croatian capital Zagreb, in neighbouring Bosnia and Serbia, and as far away as Italy.
One woman was pulled alive from the rubble of the town hall in Petrinja, Croatian media reported.
Guardian: NHS could face 'horrendous choices' over who gets coronavirus care by Denis Campbell and Sarah Marsh
Hospitals could soon face “horrendous choices” about which Covid-19 patients receive potentially life-saving treatment because the NHS is so dangerously overloaded, doctors fear.
The warning came as calls grew for the whole of the UK to be put into a new lockdown, and for a delayed return for schools after the Christmas holidays by up to a month to help stem the massive rise in coronavirus infections.
The health service is struggling to cope with record numbers of Covid cases to such an extent that some patients may be denied access to an intensive care unit or the chance to go on a mechanical ventilator, the Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) said on Tuesday.
Pressure for a toughening of the government’s tactics against Covid comes as Matt Hancock prepares to update MPs on Wednesday about how well the tiers system of restrictions on everyday life in England are helping to contain the disease’s resurgence.
AlJazeera: Argentina on the cusp of historic vote to legalise abortion by Natalie Alcoba
Buenos Aires, Argentina – Argentina is marching towards what could be a historic moment as the Senate considers a bill to legalise abortion that, if approved, would make the Latin American country a leader on reproductive rights in the region.
“I have a quota of optimism, because I think we, Argentine women, deserve it,” said Marta Alanis, a member of the campaign to legalise abortion in Argentina and among a group of women who has been waging the pro-choice battle for decades.
“The feminist movement has worked with all political parties for all the laws that have to do with women’s rights,” Alanis told Al Jazeera. “We deserve to have a law that accompanies women at the hour of deciding to terminate a pregnancy.”
The issue remains a divisive one in the predominantly Catholic country, with the Argentine Episcopal Conference issuing a call this week for Catholics and Evangelicals to unite in prayer and to fast against the legalisation, “imploring for respect and care for the unborn life”.
DW: Russia opens new criminal probe against Alexei Navalny
Russian state investigators opened a new criminal case against Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Tuesday, accusing him of "fraud."
Navalny, 44, is alleged to have collected donations from the public on behalf of the organizations he represents before spending the funds on personal needs.
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that Russia's most prominent opposition figure used the money for acquiring "personal property, material assets and paying expenses," saying that the donations were effectively "stolen."
The committee, which probes major crimes in Russia, claims Navalny used more than 356 million rubles ($4.8 million; €3.9 million) for personal use when the donations were intended for his organizations, which include an anti-corruption foundation — a non-profit establishment aimed at investigating and exposing corruption within the Kremlin.
Don’t forget that Meteor Blades is hosting a Tuesday night owls thread tonight.
Everyone have a good evening.