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 Tribune: Cook County workers strike ends, but at cost to union relations with Preckwinkle, which she admits led to ‘damaged relationships’ by Alice Yin
About 2,000 Cook County employees will end an 18-day strike and are returning to work Tuesday after a tentative agreement was reached on a contract, union officials said.
The work stoppage that began last month was the longest-ever for the Service Employees International Union Local 73 and also the longest public sector strike in Chicago’s recent history. It also frayed ties between labor-friendly Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and SEIU 73 as she and union leadership continued to ding each other Tuesday following an acrimonious negotiating period.
In an initial statement Tuesday morning, Dian Palmer, SEIU Local 73 president, hailed the pending deal as a victory for the union. But following pointed comments from Preckwinkle later on, she wrote in a statement that the county president furthered “a long history of disrespect of Local 73 members.”
“President Preckwinkle and her team consistently refused to negotiate with Cook County workers throughout this process — from equitable wages to fair treatment to a basic return-to-work agreement,” Palmer said.
Preckwinkle, who had responded to inquiries about the strike with assurances that the county has a good working relationship with its unions, said Tuesday that she was “disappointed” in SEIU 73′s leadership because the tentative deal was essentially the same one offered by the county two weeks ago. She said the total upgrades and salary increases amount to $5.8 million.
Texas Tribune: Analysis: Texas legislators are fighting ferociously — and for voters' attention by Ross Ramsey
Leaving the state to block restrictive voting legislation isn’t any more outrageous than requiring people to wait in line for 17 hours to testify on that same legislation at 3 o’clock on a Sunday morning.
It’s all within the rules, and also a sign of how far elected officials will go to win a fight. On its face, it’s ridiculous to everyone but the politicians themselves. In any other workplace, that kind of manufactured drama and stress would be ominous.
But these politicians have been fighting for a long time, and what looks bananas to the rest of us is, for Texas lawmakers, just another day at the office.
And it works, in its odd way. As long as you don’t watch too closely, the process takes in issues for consideration, debates and refines them, and either drops them (most of the time) or turns them into law. And it keeps going, constantly changing and reconsidering, never really arriving at a final conclusion. Everything’s up for debate.
If you watch closely, it’s crazy. The players behave like kids in a sandbox.
New York Times: As the C.D.C. relaxes guidelines for schools, New York City and California are sticking with their mask rules. By Alexandra E. Petri
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new school guidance on Friday, calling for a full return to classrooms in the fall and recommending that masks be optional for fully vaccinated students and staff.
But the guidance left a lot of details up to state and local governments, advising districts to use local coronavirus data to guide decisions about when to tighten or relax prevention measures like masking and physical distancing. It also recommended that unvaccinated students and staff members keep wearing masks.
In New York City, the nation’s largest public school district, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that masks will still be required for everyone in the upcoming school year, though he added that officials would continue to evaluate the decision.
“For now, assume we’re wearing masks, but that could change as we get closer,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference. “But we’ll be driven by, you know, the data we see and, and the science as always.”
POPLAR-COTTON CENTER, Calif. — There are some days when 16-year-old Alexa Martinez struggles to focus. Even when she’s immersed in classwork, her lingering anxiety over her family, and everything that’s gone wrong, seeps in.
Until two years ago, Alexa’s father Jose was one of the more than 200,000 people who worked in agriculture in a region that produces 40 percent of the fruits and nuts consumed in the United States. Then, he had a stroke. The man who once provided for the family — Alexa’s mother and four siblings — now struggles to keep his balance. Alexa or her mother Nancy must watch over him in case he falls. Even though her school reopened, the high school sophomore had to stay at home — taking classes on a laptop from the one-room trailer her family shares — so she could watch her dad and younger siblings.
“I used to always be concentrated at school, do all my work” Alexa said. “After [his stroke], I was still trying to concentrate. But it was a little bit more difficult because I had that at the back of my mind.”
Educators and policymakers have spent decades — and billions of dollars — trying to figure out how to make it easier for students like Alexa, bright young people who face a cascade of challenges linked to poverty, succeed in school. Almost nothing has stuck. Students growing up in poverty are already lagging behind their classmates by the time they set foot in kindergarten — and the disparities only worsen over time.
Guardian: At least 140 Cubans reportedly detained or disappeared after historic protests by Tom Phillips and Ed Augustin
Scores of Cuban activists, protesters and journalists, including a reporter for one of Spain’s leading newspapers, have reportedly been detained as Communist party security forces seek to smother Sunday’s historic flare-up of dissent.
Erika Guevara-Rosas, Amnesty International’s Americas director, said at least 140 Cubans were believed to have been detained or had disappeared in the aftermath of Cuba’s largest demonstrations in decades.
“The idea is to punish those who dare to challenge the government … and send a message” that no further protests would be tolerated, said Guevara-Rosas, who said spontaneous and peaceful rallies had taken place in at least 48 separate locations, including Havana.
On Tuesday Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, demanded the immediate release of Camila Acosta, a Cuban journalist who reports for a Spanish newspaper and was among those seized from their homes in the capital early on Monday.
DW: Dozens killed in South Africa unrest amid Zuma appeal
The death toll during the unrest in South Africa has increased to 72, officials reported on Tuesday.
People initially took to the streets to protest the imprisonment of former President Jacob Zuma last week. Since then, the protests have rapidly escalated into looting and riots.
Many people are frustrated by inequality and poverty in the country, which have been exacerbated because of severe restrictions aimed at blocking the spread of COVID-19.
Where have people died in the South Africa protests?
According to state and provincial authorities, the death toll includes 19 deaths in Gauteng and 26 in KwaZulu-Natal. Gauteng includes the cities of Pretoria and Johannesburg, while KwaZulu-Natal in the east is Zuma's home state.
The bodies of 10 people were found on Monday evening after a stampede at a Soweto shopping mall, said Gauteng's premier, David Makhura.
Reuters: Haitians apprehensive of foreign troops as government seeks U.S. help by David Alire Garcia and Andre Paultre
PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 13 (Reuters) - A troubled past of foreign military intervention has made many Haitians anxious or hostile to calls requesting U.S. or other foreign troops be sent to the Caribbean nation in the aftermath of last week's assassination of the President Jovenel Moise.
Acting Prime Minister Claude Joseph has asked for troops from both the United States and the United Nations, which were reviewing the requests as the Caribbean nation spiraled deeper into turmoil following Moise's killing.
Joseph pitched the idea as a way to safeguard key infrastructure such as the capital's airport and main seaport. However, the idea has met resistance from civil society groups, as well as retired soldiers in the country and ordinary citizens.
"We don't want other countries to impose a government on us," said Jose Maslin, 55, who repairs televisions and radios for a living, standing beneath a highway overpass in the capital's western Delmas neighborhood.
Don’t forget Hunter’s News Roundup tonight.
Everyone have a good evening!