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: Chicago’s older adult population growing, becoming rent burdened: report by Manny Ramos
Providing affordable housing in Cook County is becoming increasingly important with the rise over the past decade of financially vulnerable residents aged 65 and older, a new report concluded.
The report, by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, said the county gained nearly 80,000 older adult households between 2012 and 2019 — a 19.4%. increase. The city accounted for nearly 45,000 of those households, while 35,000 live in suburban Cook County.
There are about 5.2 million people in Cook County, according to the latest U.S. Census figures. More than 776,000 of those residents are 65 or older.
The growth in the county’s older population follows a national trend of seniors as the fastest growing age group. The growth is fueled by an aging Baby Boomer demographic, experts said.
“The 2021 Housing Needs and Economic Conditions of Cook County’s Older Adults” appears to be the first report to examine the implications of the changes. Its author says the report aims to serve as a baseline resource to inform policy makers of the critical economic and housing issues facing older adults in the years to come.
New York Times: They Said the Tornado Would Hit at 9:30. It Hit at 9:30. By Thomas Fuller and Tariro Mzezewa
Morgan Jackson, a cashier at Casey’s General Store, a gas station in Mayfield, Ky., checked the weather all day Friday as her phone bleeped with loud alerts, friends and family called to compare notes and customers chatted incessantly about the tornadoes that were likely to head their way.
“We all knew the storm was going to hit,” she said. “There’s no way a single person here didn’t know the storm was coming.”
For residents of Mayfield subjected to the flurry of alerts and text messages, the urgent pleadings of television meteorologists and the barrage of warnings on social media, one thing has been clear: This was not a tornado that came without warning.
Ms. Jackson said she was surprised by how accurately forecasters had pegged the timing of the tornado, one of several that swept through Kentucky that night. “They said it would hit at 9:30 and it hit at 9:30,” she said.
Washington Post: Omicron spreading rapidly in U.S. and could bring punishing wave as soon as January, CDC warns by Lena H. Sun, Joel Achenbach, Laurie McGinley, and Tyler Pager
Top federal health officials warned in a briefing Tuesday morning that the omicron variant is rapidly spreading in the United States and could peak in a massive wave of infections as soon as January, according to new modeling analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The prevalence of omicron
jumped sevenfold in a single week, according to the CDC, and at such a pace, the highly mutated variant of the
coronavirus could ratchet up pressure on a health system
already strained in many places as the delta variant continues its own surge.
The warning of an imminent surge came even as federal officials and some pharmaceutical executives signaled that they don’t currently favor creating an omicron-specific vaccine. Based on the data so far, they say that existing vaccines plus a booster shot are an effective weapon against omicron.
The CDC briefing Tuesday detailed two scenarios for how the omicron variant may spread through the country. The worst-case scenario has spooked top health officials, who fear that a fresh wave, layered on top of delta and influenza cases in what one described as “a triple whammy,” could overwhelm health systems and devastate communities, particularly those with low vaccination rates.
CNN: 'Need to end this call': January 6 committee reveals new text messages to Meadows on House floor by Jeremy Herb and Ryan Nobles
The messages were read by committee members on the House floor Tuesday during debate over referring
a criminal contempt of Congress against Meadows to the Justice Department. They included messages from a Georgia government official sent to Meadows while then-President Donald Trump was on the phone with
Georgia's secretary of state urging him to "find" votes for Trump, as well as discussions of Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. The committee also released a text Meadows sent to a member of Congress detailing Trump's views about Vice President Mike Pence and state legislatures trying to overturn the election result.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat on the select panel, read a text message from an unnamed Georgia government official sent to Meadows during the January 2 call.
"Need to end this call," the official wrote. "I don't think this will be productive for much longer."
Reuters: China targeted Taipei's allies while U.S. hosted democracy summit -Taiwan foreign minister by Sarah Wu
TAIPEI, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Nicaragua's decision last week to cut ties with Taiwan was part of a deliberate move by China to target the island's diplomatic allies after it was excluded from a democracy summit hosted by Washington, Taiwan's foreign minister said on Tuesday.
Nicaragua broke its longstanding diplomatic ties with Taiwan last week, switching allegiance to Beijing in a recognition of the Chinese Communist Party's One China policy and reducing Taipei's dwindling pool of international allies.
"When democratic countries were holding a democratic summit, China was excluded, China was a target, so China chose this opportunity to set about targeting our diplomatic allies," said Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on the sidelines of a forum on regional security.
Digital Minister Audrey Tang and Taiwan's de facto ambassador in Washington Hsiao Bi-khim represented the island at the Biden administration's "Summit for Democracy" last week. China was not on the U.S. State Department's invited participants list.
DW: Germany warns Russia over Ukraine provocation
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke with her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday, telling him that the "territorial integrity of Ukraine must not be violated."
The Foreign Ministry announced on Twitter that the two top diplomats had spoken over the phone about the ongoing crisis on the border between Russia and Ukraine.
In recent weeks, Russia has fomented fears that it is preparing to invade its neighbor as it carries out a massive troop build-up near the border. However, Moscow has denied any plans to attack, instead accusing Kyiv of aggressive posturing.
The West has threatened Russia with the "strongest-ever sanctions," as US President Joe Biden put it, should it invade Ukraine.
BBC News: Haiti fuel tanker blast kills dozens in Cap-Haïtien
More than 60 people have been killed after a fuel tanker exploded in northern Haiti, officials say.
Reports say the vehicle was involved in an accident in the city of Cap-Haïtien, and the victims had been trying to gather leaking fuel when it ignited.
Local hospitals have been overwhelmed by those injured in the blast.
Prime Minister Ariel Henry said the entire Caribbean nation was grieving after the accident, as he declared three days of mourning.
"I learned, with desolation and emotion, the sad news of the explosion last night in Cap-Haïtien," he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
Pictures posted on social media show an intense blaze at the scene of the accident in Haiti's second-largest city. One witness described the blast site as "hell".
Everyone have a great evening!