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: Disaster declared for entire state ahead of Winter Storm Landon — which could dump more than a foot of snow in some areas by Mitchell Armentrout and Madeline Kinney
Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a disaster declaration for the entire state Tuesday as a massive winter storm was poised to sock parts of the Chicago area with up to a foot of snow.
A winter storm warning for the south suburbs and northwest Indiana went into effect at 8 p.m. Tuesday and wasn’t set to expire until 6 p.m. Wednesday, with up to 12 inches of snow expected in some areas.
The warning covers southern and central Cook County, most of Will County, all of DuPage, Kendall, Grundy and LaSalle counties and, in Indiana, Lake and Porter counties, according to the National Weather Service.
Some parts of central Illinois could get as much as 15 inches as the storm moves across Peoria, Bloomington and Kankakee and into Indiana, the weather service said.
In the Chicago area, rain was changing to snow Tuesday evening, expected to ramp up to about an inch of snow per hour after midnight through early Wednesday afternoon in some areas, forecasters said.
New York Times: U.S. Has Far Higher Covid Death Rate Than Other Wealthy Countries by Benjamin Mueller and Eleanor Lutz
Two years into the pandemic, the coronavirus is killing Americans at far higher rates than people in other wealthy nations, a sobering distinction to bear as the country charts a course through the next stages of the pandemic.
The ballooning death toll has defied the hopes of many Americans that the less severe Omicron variant would spare the United States the pain of past waves. Deaths have now surpassed the worst days of the autumn surge of the Delta variant, and are more than two-thirds as high as the record tolls of last winter, when vaccines were largely unavailable.
With American lawmakers desperate to turn the page on the pandemic, as some European leaders have already begun to, the number of dead has clouded a sense of optimism, even as Omicron cases recede. And it has laid bare weaknesses in the country’s response, scientists said.
It didn’t have to be this way.
Washington Post: ‘The mother lode’: Cities and counties across America clamor for slice of new infrastructure funds by Yeganeh Torbati, Jonathan O’Connell, and Tony Romm
Over the past decade, the small coastal city of Largo, Fla., has borrowed tens of millions of dollars from the state, partly to build piecemeal protections against rising sea waters that threaten flooding and major damage to the community, which sits squarely between the Gulf of Mexico and Tampa Bay.
It hasn’t been enough: A recent budget enumerated nearly $77 million in unfunded projects, including protecting an industrial site from hurricane damage and paving with materials that better absorb water.
And so last year, as members of Congress debated a historic infrastructure bill that would fund hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of new spending on roads, bridges, pipes, ports and Internet connections across the country, Largo officials did something they had never done before: They hired lobbyists in Washington to advocate on their behalf.
“I know the term ‘lobbyist’ does not have a real good ring to it,” said Jamie Robinson, a Largo city commissioner. “But I think done strategically, it’s a great opportunity for us.”
Reuters: Ex-Miami Dolphins coach sues NFL over alleged race bias by Daniel Wiessner
Feb 1 (Reuters) - Recently fired Miami Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the National Football League and its 32 teams of discriminating against Black candidates for coaching and management jobs.
In a class action complaint in Manhattan federal court, Flores said his firing by the Dolphins last month after back-to-back seasons with winning records was emblematic of the treatment of Black coaches, who comprise a fraction of team staff while 70% of NFL players are Black.
The lawsuit seeks to force the NFL to make a series of changes, incentivize teams to hire Black coaches and general managers, and require teams to explain hiring and termination decisions in writing.
In a statement responding to the suit, the NFL said the claims were without merit. It said the NFL and it clubs were committed to ensuring equitable employment practices.
Lovie Smith comes to mind. So does Jim Caldwell.
NBC News: Republicans who impeached Trump outpace challengers in latest fundraising haul by Allan Smith
Republicans seeking re-election who backed former President Donald Trump's impeachment or voted to convict him last year are outpacing their GOP challengers in the money race, according to the latest Federal Election Commission filings.
The eight Republicans who voted in favor of either impeachment or conviction and are facing voters this year raised more money than those who seek to oust them from office, the filings released this week showed.
Leading the pack was Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who pulled in more than $1.97 million during the last three months of 2021, bringing her yearly total to nearly $6.5 million. Harriet Hageman, Cheney's Trump-backed challenger, who launched her bid in September, reported about $443,000 in contributions last quarter, bringing her total for the year to just north of $745,000.
The disparity was mirrored in other races. Rep. Peter Meijer, R-Mich., brought in eight times what his Trump-endorsed primary challenger secured last quarter, while Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., raised more than five times what Trump-backed state Rep. Steve Carra brought in from October through December. And in Washington state, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler out-raised her Trump-backed opponent, Joe Kent, bringing in about $422,000 compared to his roughly $297,000 during that same period.
AlJazeera: US asks for UN Security Council meeting on North Korea: Diplomats
The United States has asked the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Thursday to discuss North Korea’s test-launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile, diplomats said.
North Korea confirmed that it had fired a Hwasong-12 “mid-range ballistic missile” on Sunday, fuelling concen the nuclear-armed state could resume long-range testing.
The launch was the seventh missile test conducted by North Korea in January and the first time the country fired a missile of that size since 2017.
The UN Security Council meeting is expected to be held behind closed doors on Thursday, and it is up to Russia, the president of the council for the month of February, to confirm the timing.
DW: Putin says West has 'ignored' Russia's security concerns
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that the West had "ignored" Moscow's security concerns in his first public remarks over the Ukraine standoff in more than a month.
Last week the US and NATO responded to the Kremlin's calls for legally binding security guarantees.
However, Putin believes Russia's requests have fallen on deaf ears. He told reporters: "We are carefully analyzing the written responses received from the United States and NATO."
"But it is already clear that fundamental Russian concerns ended up being ignored," he said, before adding the Kremlin is still poring over the US and NATO's feedback.
"I hope that in the end we will find a solution, although it will not be simple," Putin said, indicating he was ready for more talks with the West, which has accused Russia of amassing more than 100,000 troops on its border with Ukraine ahead of a planned invasion of its neighbor.
"It seems to me that the United States is not so much concerned about the security of Ukraine but its main task is to contain Russia's development," Putin said.
Guardian: ‘We only have a pen’: fury as fourth journalist killed in Mexico this year by David Agren
Journalists in Mexico have responded with fury and despair at the murder of a fourth reporter in the country this year, cementing its reputation as the world’s most murderous country for media workers.
Roberto Toledo was shot dead by three gunmen on Monday afternoon in a carpark in the city of Zitácuaro, where he reported for a local news outlet, Monitor Michoacán. Zitácuaro is best known for the nearby monarch butterfly reserves, but the region is rife with violence as drug cartels and criminal groups fight to control illegal logging.
“Exposing corruption led to the death of one of our colleagues,” said Armando Linares, the director of Monitor Michoacán, in a video originally posted on Facebook. Linares broke down in tears before offering his apologies to Toledo’s family.
“[Toledo] lost his life at the hands of three people who shot him in a mean and cowardly manner,” he continued. “We don’t carry weapons. We only have a pen and a notebook to defend ourselves.”
Hollywood Reporter: Whoopi Goldberg Suspended at ‘The View’ Over “Hurtful” Holocaust Comments by Alex Weprin
Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended by ABC’s The View.
The daytime panel show co-host will be off the program for two weeks after making controversial comments Monday about the Jewish people and the Holocaust in response to a local school board banning the graphic novel Maus.
ABC News president Kim Godwin announced the decision in a note to staff Tuesday night.
“Effective immediately, I am suspending Whoopi Goldberg for two weeks for her wrong and hurtful comments,” Godwin said. “While Whoopi has apologized, I’ve asked her to take time to reflect and learn about the impact of her comments. The entire ABC News organization stands in solidarity with our Jewish colleagues, friends, family and communities.”
“These decisions are never easy, but necessary,” she addd in her memo. “Just last week I noted that the culture at ABC News is one that is driven, kind, inclusive, respectful, and transparent. Whoopi’s comments do not align with those values.”
Goldberg apologized on the program earlier on Tuesday, in a segment that also included an interview with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt.
Everyone have a great evening!