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.
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Chicago Sun-Times: Pritzker says Trump should order nation to wear masks: ‘It’s not too late for the federal government to make an impact’ by Tina Sfondeles
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, an avid critic of President Trump and his response to the COVID-19 pandemic, called on the federal government Wednesday to require face coverings and to devise a national strategy to try to contain the virus that has killed more than 133,000 Americans.
“We need a national masking mandate. We instituted ours in Illinois on May 1, the first in the nation. And it aligns with our most significant downward shifts in our infection rate,” Pritzker said in testimony video streamed to the U.S. House Committee on Homeland Security. “It’s not too late for the federal government to make an impact. In fact, it’s more important than ever.”
Pritzker is not the only governor to call for a national mask mandate. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has also done so. Trump does not wear a mask and has said it is a “voluntary” measure, despite health officials urging Americans to wear face coverings to try to contain the virus’ spread.
NOLA.com: Where are the biggest coronavirus outbreaks in Louisiana? Food processing plants, bars top the list by Sam Karlin
As Louisiana continues to see weeks-long increases in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, health officials have tracked hundreds of cases related to food processing facilities, bars, industrial sites and a host of other settings.
The data, which was released for the first time Wednesday, partly reveals the scope of the problems associated with places like crawfish processing facilities and bars, which have experienced some of the most conspicuous outbreaks to date.
The Louisiana Department of Health has confirmed 11 outbreaks at food processing plants, tied to 423 cases; 36 outbreaks at bars, tied to 393 cases; and 16 outbreaks at industrial settings, with 117 cases related to such facilities. The data is cumulative since the start of the pandemic, though the state's ramped-up contact tracing didn't start until mid-May.
IndyStar: Holcomb: Video of alleged racist assault at Lake Monroe 'beyond disturbing' by Elizabeth DePompei and Vic Ryckaert
Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb called video of an alleged racist assault on a Black man at Lake Monroe "beyond disturbing " during a Wednesday press conference.
Vauhxx Booker, a member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, said he was attacked by a group of white men and subjected to racist language at Lake Monroe on July 4. A portion of the incident was captured on video that Booker posted on Facebook.
The incident is being investigated by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. The FBI is also investigating.
"The brief video clip that I viewed with my own two eyes was beyond disturbing," Holcomb said during his weekly coronavirus update. "And that's why it's very important that the DNR... complete their investigation sooner rather than later."
New York Daily News: Advocates fear mass cuts to NYC transit as MTA runs out of tax, fare and coronavirus relief money by Clayton Guse
The MTA will see a 25% hit next year in tax revenue that helps pay for buses, trains and subways, said a report Wednesday by the the city’s Independent Budget Office that hammered home the dire financial situation brought to the agency by the coronavirus pandemic.
State tax money dedicated to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will fall by $2.7 billion by the end of 2022, the report says.
The MTA will see a 25% hit next year in tax revenue that helps pay for buses, trains and subways, said a report Wednesday by the the city’s Independent Budget Office that hammered home the dire financial situation brought to the agency by the coronavirus pandemic.
State tax money dedicated to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will fall by $2.7 billion by the end of 2022, the report says.
Los Angeles Times: UC President-elect Michael V. Drake knows firsthand about harsh police tactics by Teresa Watanabe
Michael V. Drake is the newly selected University of California president. He’s the former Ohio State University president and UC Irvine chancellor, a distinguished professor, a medical doctor, a Stanford University graduate.
As a Black man, however, he has been subjected to indignities by police that his professional pedigrees could not stop.
Drake, who turns 70 on Thursday, has been stopped and searched by law enforcement officers multiple times. The last time was about six years ago, he said, when he and a friend were pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy when they were driving home from Los Angeles International Airport and detained for 15 minutes for questioning. He was pulled aside so often at airports he used to program in extra time to get through them, he said.
“I am acutely and have been personally aware of the harsh and disrespectful policing that people of color face. I’ve faced it. My sons have faced it. It’s been a part of American life for all too long, and it’s something that needs to stop and we need to find better ways of being able to keep our communities safe,” Drake said in an interview.
ProPublica: A Spike in People Dying at Home Suggests Coronavirus Deaths in Houston May Be Higher Than Reported by Charles Ornstein (ProPublica) and Mike Hixenbaugh (NBC News)
HOUSTON — When Karen Salazar stopped by to check on her mother on the evening of June 22, she found her in worse shape than she expected. Her mother, Felipa Medellín, 54, had been complaining about chest pains and fatigue, symptoms that she attributed to a new diabetes treatment she’d started days earlier.
Medellín, who had seen a doctor that day, insisted she was fine. But Salazar, 29, noticed that when Medellín lay down, her chest was rising and falling rapidly — as if she couldn’t catch her breath.
“I grabbed her hand and I said: ‘I’m sorry. I know you don’t want to go to the hospital, but I’m calling the ambulance,’” Salazar said.
While Salazar was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher, her mother suddenly passed out. Then she stopped breathing.
“Mom! Mom!” Salazar remembers shouting, trying to rouse her.
With the dispatcher on speaker phone, Salazar attempted CPR, repeatedly pressing her hands down on her mother’s chest, silently praying for her to startle back to life. But by the time Houston paramedics arrived at her home in northwest Houston, Medellín was dead.
Washington Post: America is running short on masks, gowns and gloves. Again. By William Wan
Health-care workers on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic are encountering shortages of masks, gowns, face shields and gloves — a frustrating recurrence of a struggle that haunted the first months of the crisis.
Nurses say they are reusing N95 masks for days and even weeks at a time. Doctors say they can’t reopen offices because they lack personal protective equipment. State officials say they have scoured U.S. and international suppliers for PPE and struggle to get orders filled. Experts worry the problem could worsen as coronavirus infections climb, straining medical systems.
“A lot people thought once the alarm was sounded back in March surely the federal government would fix this, but that hasn’t happened,” said Deborah Burger, a California nurse and president of National Nurses United, a union representing registered nurses. Like many health-care workers, Burger blamed the Trump administration for the lack of equipment, noting the administration has insisted the responsibility falls to state and local officials, with the federal government playing only a supporting role.
Reuters: New U.S. CDC school reopening guidelines promised after Trump complains by Doina Chiacu and Daphne Psakedakis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to issue new guidelines for reopening schools, Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump criticized the agency’s recommendations as too expensive and impractical.
Trump, a Republican who is seeking re-election in November, accused Democrats of wanting to keep schools shut for political reasons and threatened to cut off federal funding to schools that do not reopen, despite a surge in coronavirus cases.
“I disagree with @CDCgov on their very tough & expensive guidelines for opening schools. While they want them open, they are asking schools to do very impractical things. I will be meeting with them!!!” Trump said on Twitter.
Flanked by top administration health and education officials, Pence said the CDC next week will issue a “new set of tools ... to give more clarity on the guidance going forward.
France24: Ivorian Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly dies in Abidjan at 61
Ivorian Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly died Wednesday in Abidjan at the age of 61, the presidency announced on public television. Coulibaly had been picked to be the ruling party candidate in a presidential election planned for October.
The presidency's secretary-general, Patrick Achi, read a statement from President Alassane Ouattara on state media to announce Coulibaly's death.
"I am deeply saddened to announce that Prime Minister Amadou Gon Coulibaly, the head of government, left us early this afternoon after taking part in the Council of Ministers," Achi said.
Coulibaly, known as "AGC", returned to the Ivory Coast last week after a two-month absence. The prime minister left May 2 for medical treatment in France despite the closure of borders due to the coronavirus pandemic. He received a stent about a week after arriving in France following an exam of his coronary arteries. He had also undergone heart surgery in 2012.
Euronews: Serbian president backtracks on COVID-19 curfew after thousands protest by Emma Beswick
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić backtracked on a plan to enforce a second lockdown amid increasing coronavirus cases after protesters filled the streets of Belgrade.
Vučić had announced on Tuesday that new lockdown measures would be reintroduced later in the week, prompting demonstrators to gather in front of the parliament with some chanting "Resignation! Resignation!"
Protests began on Tuesday and continued the following day with several people injured outside parliament as clashes erupted between groups of protesters and police, who fired rounds of tear gas.
But Vučić said on Wednesday that without a state of emergency, he wouldn't be able to enforce a curfew, in an apparent backtrack on his plan to impose a curfew from Friday to Monday to curb the spread of the virus.
South China Morning Post: Pope strays from script to avoid mention of Hong Kong in Sunday address by Mimi Lau
Pope Francis did not mention Hong Kong in his regular noon address on Sunday, despite a paragraph on his concerns for the city’s religious freedoms in the wake of a new
national security law appearing in the original script.
According to an embargoed copy of the Angelus address, seen and confirmed by the South China Morning Post, the missing paragraph expressed the Pope’s “attention and worries” about Hong Kong’s social and religious freedoms.
His decision to omit mention of the city has stirred controversy, with critics accusing the Pope of kowtowing to pressure from Beijing. Other experts believe it was a calculated move by the Pope to release his concerns informally – and avoid being perceived as “meddling with domestic affairs” – as Rome attempts to renegotiate a landmark
Sino-Vatican agreement.
Guardian: Brazil: Bolsonaro reportedly uses homophobic slur to mock masks by Tom Phillips
One day after announcing he had tested positive for coronavirus Jair Bolsonaro has come under fire for allegedly using homophobic language to mock the use of face masks.
The Folha de São Paulo, a leading broadsheet, claimed Brazil’s far-right leader had baited presidential staff who were using protective masks, claiming such equipment was “coisa de viado” (a homophobic slur that roughly translates as “for fairies”).
Bolsonaro is a longstanding enemy of Brazil’s LGBTQ+ community and during three decades in politics has made no secret of his homophobia.
“I have [parliamentary] immunity to say: yes, I’m homophobic – and very proud of it,” he said in one filmed interview during his seven-term stint as a congressman.
In a 2013 interview with Stephen Fry – which the British actor later called “one of the most chilling confrontations I’ve ever had with a human being” – Bolsonaro alleged “homosexual fundamentalists” were brainwashing heterosexual children so they could “satisfy them sexually in the future”.
Everyone have a good night and I will see you this coming Saturday for...science!