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: Pritzker touts state’s first credit rating upgrade in decades: ‘Illinois is making a major comeback’ by Rachel HInton
Illinois notched its first bond rating upgrade in over two decades Tuesday, but the Wall Street agency handing it down warned of long-term challenges that could put pressure on the state as federal COVID-19 relief dollars dissipate.
Moody’s Investors Service issued the upgrade, to Baa2 from Baa3, and gave the state’s general obligation bond outlook a stable rating because of “material improvement in the state’s finances,” according to the agency’s news release.
“The enacted fiscal 2022 budget for the state increases pension contributions, repays emergency Federal Reserve borrowings and keeps a backlog of bills in check with only constrained use of federal aid from the American Rescue Plan Act,” the agency said in its ratings rationale.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the state’s Democratic legislative leaders and others applauded the upgrade.
“Make no mistake, despite all the challenges of the last year, after eight credit downgrades our state suffered under my predecessor, I say with full certainty Illinois fiscal condition is heading in the right direction for the first time in the 21st Century,” the governor said at a hastily called Springfield news conference.
Texas Tribune: Texas voters split over Gov. Greg Abbott’s job performance, but he remains popular among Republicans, UT/TT Poll finds by Farah Eltohamy
Texas voters are split over whether they approve of Gov. Greg Abbott’s job performance, though he remains popular with Republicans and more popular among Texans than President Joe Biden, according to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll.
The June 2021 poll shows that 44% of Texans approve of Abbott’s job as governor, while 44% disapprove. That leaves him with an overall approval rating from Texas voters that’s better than those of Biden, U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dade Phelan. Abbott enjoys the approval of 77% of his own party’s voters, with 43% of Republicans saying they “strongly approve” of his performance.
Democratic disapproval for Abbott remains potent. Eighty-two percent of Democrats disapprove of Abbott, with 75% of those Democrats saying they “strongly disapprove” of his performance.
MLive: Michigan fines more businesses for COVID-19 violations, including 2 from Ohio by Taylor DesOrmeau
Michigan’s COVID-19 workplace restrictions are no longer mandatory – as of June 22 – but the fines and citations from previous months of investigations keep rolling in.
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited another 13 workplaces for COVID-19 violations, according to its
online dashboard. That brings the total to 297.
Most of the latest violations were from April and May. The investigations take weeks or months to complete, said MIOSHA spokesperson Camara Lewis, which is why they’re just being reported now. Lewis expects more citations to be added to the list on a rolling basis.
Of the 13 latest citations, the largest COVID-19-related fine was $4,500. Most were in the metro Detroit area.
The batch includes two contractors based in Ohio, south of Toledo. MIOSHA has fined a handful of businesses in bordering states throughout the pandemic, since they’re required to follow Michigan’s workplace safety rules while doing work in Michigan.
Portland Press-Herald: Mainers earning less than $75,000 could get $300 ‘hazard payment’ checks by Rachel Ohm
Maine residents who worked through the coronavirus pandemic could get a check for up to $300 from the state this year as part of a budget proposal the Legislature is expected to vote on Wednesday.
The “hazard payment” would be available to full-time residents who filed state income tax returns for 2020 and who earned a federally adjusted gross income of less than $75,000 as an individual, less than $112,000 as a head of household or less than $150,000 for those filing jointly.
The proposal is part of an $8.5 billion biennial budget agreement reached by the Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee Sunday that also raises municipal revenue sharing to 5 percent by fiscal year 2023 and would provide 55 percent state funding for K-12 education for the first time.
“We were pleased we are getting some tax relief out to Mainers,” said House Minority Leader Rep. Kathleen Dillingham, R-Oxford. “It has been something that was definitely a priority for Republicans in our caucuses, so we’re happy to see this compromise in the budget document.”
Seattle Times: 2 dead from heat exposure during record temperatures Monday in King County by Evan Bush
At least two people died and 223 made visits to King County emergency departments on Monday after exposure to historic heat during an unprecedented heat wave.
A 65-year-old Seattle woman and a 68-year-old Enumclaw woman both died of hyperthermia, according to the King County Medical Examiner’s office, meaning their bodies had became dangerously overheated. A 4-year-old boy drowned Monday.
Heat-related illnesses made up some 10% of all emergency room visits Monday, according to data supplied by Public Health – Seattle & King County.
In total, 357 King County residents visited emergency rooms for heat-related illness during the three-day heat wave. Since January 2018, the one-day high for visits to emergency rooms for heat-related illnesses had been nine.
Washington Post: Video, images and interviews deepen questions about role of pool deck in condo collapse
A Washington Post examination of video and images from the deadly collapse of a high-rise apartment building outside Miami — along with interviews with structural engineers, a key witness and an investigator — deepens questions about whether existing damage to a deck in the pool area contributed to the disaster.
A resident told The Post that minutes before Champlain Towers South in Surfside came down, she noticed that a section of the pool deck and a street-level parking area had collapsed into the parking garage below. The husband of another resident has said that his wife, who has not been seen since the disaster, made a similar observation in a telephone call shortly before the collapse.
An engineer in 2018 found “major structural damage” in the pool deck area caused by what he said was a flaw that limited water drainage. At least 12 people were killed and 149 remain unaccounted for following a type of disaster that is unheard of in the United States.
The investigation into the collapse last Thursday is likely to take many months and may find no single definitive cause. Experts urged caution and some structural engineers said they doubted that a collapse in the deck slab would have jeopardized the beachside building’s overall integrity. But Allyn E. Kilsheimer, a veteran engineer hired by Surfside to investigate the collapse, told The Post that such a failure could have set off a wider catastrophe.
New York Times: Board of Elections ‘Discrepancy’ Puts Mayoral Primary Vote in Disarray by Katie Glueck
The New York City mayor’s race plunged into chaos on Tuesday night after the city Board of Elections released a new tally of votes in the Democratic mayoral primary, and then, several hours later, removed the tabulations from its website while citing a “discrepancy.”
The results released earlier in the day had suggested that the race between Eric Adams and his two closest rivals had tightened significantly.
But just a few hours after releasing the results, the elections board issued a mysterious tweet revealing a “discrepancy” in the report, saying that it was working with its “technical staff to identify where the discrepancy occurred.”
The discrepancy was related to the “difference in votes cast” between what was disclosed on primary night and the results released on Tuesday, according to a Board of Elections official.
CNN: Supreme Court allows coronavirus eviction moratorium to remain in place by Ariane de Vogue
(CNN) A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a request to block a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order that prohibits landlords nationwide from evicting certain tenants who fail to pay rent amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined with the court's three liberals to keep the moratorium in place.
Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett said they would have granted the request to lift it.
The current moratorium was set to expire Wednesday, but last week CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced what she said was a "final" extension until July 31. In a statement she said that the pandemic has presented a "historic threat to the nation's public health" and that "keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings -- like homeless shelters -- by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of Covid-19."
Roll Call: Lawmakers weigh in on proposals to change the Supreme Court by Todd Ruger
Several members of Congress wanted to make sure the White House commission on the Supreme Court heard their views ahead of the first public hearing Wednesday on the debate over expanding the court beyond its current nine members and other potential overhauls.
Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Republican Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota submitted a comment to the commission that Congress has exclusive authority to change the Supreme Court’s structure.
The letter also seeks “to remind you of the growing congressional momentum” for their bills for a constitutional amendment to keep the court at nine justices, with 18 senators and 173 representatives as co-sponsors.
“Despite the President’s inability to alter the Supreme Court, President Biden established your commission to pacify the far left,” Cruz and Johnson wrote.
Those proposed amendments respond to calls from some liberal advocacy groups and members of Congress to expand the court.
BBC News: Hong Kong: How life has changed under the national security law
On 30 June 2020, China introduced the National Security Law (NSL) in Hong Kong in response to massive pro-democracy protests that had swept through the city the previous year.
The controversial law reduces Hong Kong's judicial autonomy and makes it easier to punish demonstrators and activists. It criminalises secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces and carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Since it was enacted more than 100 people - including protesters, pro-democracy politicians and journalists - have been arrested under its provisions.
Beijing insists that the law is needed to bring stability to the city, but critics say it violates the "one country, two systems" principle under which the former British colony was handed back to China.
The one thing many Hong Kongers do agree on however, is that in the year since the law was enacted, life has fundamentally changed. We spoke to seven of them to find out how.
AlJazeera: South Africa’s third COVID wave could be the worst yet by Sam Bradpiece
Cape Town, South Africa – From his 10-bed private clinic in western Johannesburg, Bayanda Gumende is more used to treating renal diseases than COVID-19. But with the city’s hospitals full, patients lingering in casualty wards for days and ambulances stuck waiting in car parks, that is beginning to change.
The 27-year-old chief nephrology technologist says he has been swamped with calls from patients desperate for oxygen and who cannot find it elsewhere. But with supply being limited, he is forced to prioritise.
“It has taken a toll on me. It is very emotional to watch people taking their last breath. Some people are gasping for air. There is literally nothing you can do about it. You cannot save everybody,” he says.
South Africa accounts for close to 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths on the continent, with 60,038 officially recorded fatalities so far. It is currently in the midst of a third wave, driven by the rapid spread of the Delta variant, first detected in India, which is fast becoming the dominant strain.
Professor Salim Abdool Karim, a world-leading epidemiologist and former co-chair of South Africa’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, believes that a mutation related to furin – an enzyme that “cleaves” the spike protein – makes this variant particularly dangerous.
France 24: Turkey's 'crazy' and controversial Istanbul Canal project
By laying the first stone of the Sazlidere bridge, one of six viaducts that will cross the Istanbul Canal, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan kicked off on Saturday what he himself calls his "crazy project", the construction of a canal between the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara, despite low enthusiasm from the Turkish public,
During Saturday’s ceremony on the Sazlidere construction site, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan placed special emphasis on the historical nature of his outsized project.
"This is not a ceremony to inaugurate a fountain," he told a crowd of supporters including Transport and Industry Minister Adil Karaismailoglu and members of his party, the AKP.
The Turkish president rattled off a series of numbers and hammered home his message: six bridges; 45 kilometres long; 21 metres deep; 30 times safer than the Bosphorus; 90 percent less traffic; six years of construction; a $15 billion budget…
The Bosphorus Strait sees too much traffic, Erdogan said. Ships must wait days at times before crossing it, the passage is difficult to navigate for large cargo ships and can lead to accidents, and the only solution is to find another route.
Guardian: Rattlesnakes everywhere: the odd consequences of California’s drought by Gabrielle Canon
Len Ramirez stalked through the dried landscape, scanning the ground ahead searching for movement. Called out to an estate in Napa Valley, the owner of Ramirez Rattlesnake Removal company was finishing up his last job of another busy day wrangling, removing and relocating snakes from homes across northern California. He’d found three in just this yard, including one nestled roughly 1,000 yards from the pool.
Rattlesnakes are everywhere these days, he says – on front porches, in potted plants, and under children’s play equipment. “I am busier than I have ever been. Complaints are coming in from all over the state.”
Ramirez believes the drought may be partly to blame. He opened his business in 1985, and has seen spikes before. And while he doesn’t think the rattlesnake population is necessarily growing, snakes are increasingly finding their way into urban environments in search of refuge from the rising temperatures and relief from the drying landscape.
And it’s not just snakes.
Don’t forget Hunter’s News Roundup tonight.
Everyone have a good evening.