Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Doctor RJ, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke 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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The Guardian
An immense river that flowed from one of Canada’s largest glaciers vanished over the course of four days last year, scientists have reported, in an unsettling illustration of how global warming dramatically changes the world’s geography.
The abrupt and unexpected disappearance of the Slims river, which spanned up to 150 metres at its widest points, is the first observed case of “river piracy”, in which the flow of one river is suddenly diverted into another.
For hundreds of years, the Slims carried meltwater northwards from the vast Kaskawulsh glacier in Canada’s Yukon territory into the Kluane river, then into the Yukon river towards the Bering Sea. But in spring 2016, a period of intense melting of the glacier meant the drainage gradient was tipped in favour of a second river, redirecting the meltwater to the Gulf of Alaska, thousands of miles from its original destination.
The continental-scale rearrangement was documented by a team of scientists who had been monitoring the incremental retreat of the glacier for years. But on a 2016 fieldwork expedition they were confronted with a landscape that had been radically transformed.
US NEWS
McClatchy
The fate of the federal government – whether it stays open or shuts down at the end of April – is all up to Congress and President Donald Trump. What could possibly go wrong?
Republican and Democratic congressional leaders are optimistic that when they return from their recess the last week of April, they’ll reach a deal and avert a government shutdown by April 28, when legislation that is now funding the government expires.
Yet there are a number of issues, including the White House’s push for U.S.-Mexico border wall money and Trump’s threat this week to pull some health care funding, that could lead to a collapse of comity and a budget blowup.
It’s happened before: The longest shutdown, in December 1995-January 1996, lasted 21 days. Conservatives in the House of Representatives prompted a 16-day shutdown in 2013 over opposition to paying for President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act.
This year’s showdown is most likely in the House, where Republicans are counting on Democratic support to pass a spending bill because some House conservatives have steadfastly refused to vote for spending bills: “Anything that depends on 216 Republicans is a highly risky proposition,” said Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, a top Republican on the House Appropriations and Budget committees, citing the number needed to pass legislation in the House.
Reuters
Arkansas' Supreme Court halted two executions hours before they were due to take place on Monday, while a federal appeals court overruled a lower U.S. court decision that had blocked the state's original plan to put eight inmates to death in an 11-day period.
The decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis was independent of the Arkansas State Supreme Court ruling, meaning the state was barred from executing condemned killers Don Davis and Bruce Ward as scheduled on Monday evening, the Arkansas attorney general's office said.
Ward, 60, and Davis, 55, were being held in cells near the state's death chamber and their execution warrants were due to expire at midnight (0500 GMT Tuesday). The next executions are scheduled for Thursday.
In a 4-3 decision, Arkansas' highest court stayed the executions of Ward and Davis, each of whom has spent more than 20 years on death row. Their lawyers had raised questions about their mental competency.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge later petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the reprieve granted to Davis, sentenced to die for the 1990 slaying of Jane Daniel, 62, during a home burglary.
NPR
Office of Government Ethics Director Walter Shaub Jr. is calling on the chairman of House Oversight Committee to become more engaged in overseeing ethics questions in the Trump administration.
In an interview with NPR on Monday, Shaub said public inquiries and complaints involving Trump administration conflicts of interest and ethics have been inundating his tiny agency, which has only advisory power.
"We've even had a couple days where the volume was so huge it filled up the voicemail box, and we couldn't clear the calls as fast as they were coming in," Shaub said. His office is scrambling to keep pace with the workload.
But while citizens, journalists and Democratic lawmakers are pushing for investigations, Shaub suggested a similar level of energy is not coming from the House Oversight Committee, which has the power to investigate ethics questions, particularly those being raised now about reported secret ethics waivers for former lobbyists serving in the Trump administration
NPR
With a nasty and partisan confirmation battle behind him, Justice Neil Gorsuch took his seat on the nation's highest court on Monday and quickly proved himself to be an active, persistent questioner.
As the court buzzer sounded, Gorsuch emerged from behind the red velvet curtains with his eight colleagues and took his seat at the far right of the bench, no pun intended. (That's where the most junior justice sits, regardless of his or her politics.)
Despite his white hair, Gorsuch looked for all the world like a kid on his first day of high school, proud to be with the big guys, and sitting tall, with a tiny grin on his face.
[...]
Gorsuch repeatedly suggested it would be "a lot simpler" or "a lot easier if we just follow the text of the statute." But as the lawyers on both sides and other justices pointed out, the statute has multiple provisions that are interdependent, and nothing about them is simple or easy.
NPR
Donald Trump's presidency is less than three months old, but in that time there have been massive turnouts for the Women's March and for Tax Day protests in cities across the country demanding that Trump release his returns. This coming Saturday, on Earth Day, scores of March for Science protests are expected.
Helping to guide these actions are veteran activists with the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — better known as ACT UP. Thirty years after the coalition's founding, some seasoned activists are dusting off their bullhorns and updating their direct-action playbooks to tap into the new wave of activism energized by opposition to Trump's policies.
Founded in 1987, ACT UP never settled for trying to push change quietly or behind the scenes.
It was loud, demanding and in-your-face with telegenic direct action, a protest that got serious attention and, occasionally, laughs.
Ed. note: I found this next article interesting and informative.
NPR
Back in 2012, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's campaign suffered a blow when a tape was leaked of him grousing that 47 percent of Americans don't pay federal income tax. It was one of the biggest gaffes of the presidential campaign, but a new poll conducted by Ipsos for NPR suggests that many Americans forgot it.
The way Romney characterized those who don't pay federal income taxes is what got him in trouble, but the figure was roughly true. The new poll, however, shows that a majority think that the share of Americans paying no federal income tax is far lower.
The poll gave respondents four options — 39 percent said that only 11 percent of Americans pay zero or negative income tax, and 31 percent said that only 27 percent pay zero or negative income tax. Only 21 percent got it right — right now, around 45 percent pay no federal income tax.
[...]
Americans underestimate the share of Americans who don't pay federal income taxes
Given four choices of how many Americans pay zero or negative federal income taxes (11, 27, 45, or 63 percent), fully 70 percent of poll respondents chose the options under the correct answer, which was 45 percent. Some of these people simply have no taxable income, and others get money back as a result of refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit. (Of course, these people might pay other taxes, like payroll taxes, as well as whatever sales and property taxes their states impose.)
Reuters
The gunman accused of killing five people during a shooting rampage last year inside a Washington state shopping mall has been found dead in his jail cell, a local official said on Monday.
Arcan Cetin, who was being held on five counts of aggravated murder, was found hanging in his cell at the Snohomish County jail on Sunday night, according to Rosemary Kaholokula, a prosecutor with the Skagit County prosecutor’s office.
He had been evaluated by doctors at Western State psychiatric hospital and the results of the mental competency exam were expected at a hearing next week, she said.
Cetin, 20, a Turkish-born legal U.S. resident, confessed to police investigators that he had brought a .22-caliber rifle into a department store at the Cascade Mall in Burlington, Washington, on Sept. 23, 2016, and shot five people.
Law enforcement officials said after the shooting that they had found no evidence linking Cetin to any known Islamist militant groups or individuals.
WORLD NEWS
Agence France Presse
US Vice President Mike Pence arrives in Tokyo on Tuesday bringing a renewed commitment to Japan's security amid a growing threat from a nuclear armed North Korea.
Throughout his bareknuckle election campaign, US President Donald Trump repeatedly called into question a mutual defense treaty between Japan and the United States, suggesting Tokyo should pay for its own security.
But now, Pence will try to reassure his jittery hosts that those decades-old security commitments are ironclad, a necessity made more acute as tensions rise over Pyongyang's latest missile test and Washington's refusal to rule out military action against the regime.
Defying international pressure, the North on Sunday test-fired another missile and fears are growing it may also be preparing a sixth nuclear test.
North Korea could react to a potential US strike by targeting South Korea or Japan, and officials in Tokyo and Seoul have been ill at ease with the more bellicose language deployed by Trump's administration.
Deutsche Welle
Various North Korean diplomats have responded to the recent rising of tensions between the country and the United States. The statements followed US VP Pence's visit to the Demilitarized Zone on the Koreas' border.
North Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Han Song-ryol told the BBC that an "all out war" could result if the US took military action. "We'll be conducting more missile tests on a weekly, monthly and yearly basis," Han said in Monday's interview.
His comments came a day after the country test-fired a missile, which exploded within moments of its launch. The malfunctioning missile was intended to be part of the celebrations commemorating the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-sung, the country's founding president and "eternal president."
Nuclear weapon 'not a bargaining tool'
Another North Korean deputy foreign minister, Sin Hong-chol, meanwhile told Al Jazeera news that its army was on "maximum alert" after Monday's visit by US Vice President Mike Pence to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South Korea and the North. There, Pence had said that Washington's "era of strategic patience" with regard to North Korea was over.
Agence France Presse
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday angrily rejected criticism by international monitors of a referendum granting him extra powers that was disputed by the opposition and exposed bitter divisions in the country.
The referendum was seen as crucial not just for shaping Turkey's political system but also the future strategic direction of a nation that has been a NATO member since 1952 and a European Union hopeful for half a century.
Returning in triumph to his presidential palace in Ankara, Erdogan addressed thousands of supporters gathered outside, telling monitors who criticised the poll: "Know your place."
Showing no sign of pulling his punches, Erdogan said Turkey could hold further referendums on its EU bid and re-introducing the death penalty.
The 'Yes' camp won 51.41 percent in Sunday's referendum, according to complete results released by election authorities.
But the opposition immediately cried foul, claiming a clean vote would have made a difference of several percentage points and handed them victory.
The main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) said they would challenge the results from most ballot boxes due to alleged violations.
Spiegel Online
As the head of the Alternative for Germany, Frauke Petry hopes to bring the right-wing populist party into the German parliament for the first time. How did an East German chemist and entrepreneur with a pastor for a husband turn into one of the country's most-hated people?
The window to the courtyard is open. Frauke Petry wants to let in a bit of spring, she says, though her office at Saxony state parliament is still in the shade. It's not easy for the sun to find its way to Petry, floor leader for the right-wing populistAlternative for Germany (AfD) party. She looks a bit pale and hardly slept at all the night before. She has a lot to lug around with her, she says, before putting her hands on her hips and laughing.
She is probably talking about the baby in her belly. But it's hard to be sure.
There is a certain dread that comes with meeting Frauke Petry, particularly as a journalist. One thinks of that puzzling moment when she recently burst into tears on stage at a party convention. There is her warm smile and ebullient laugh, her somewhat turbulent personal life, her children. She plays organ and speaks fluent English and French. And all that makes her seem human -- too human, one fears.
BBC
The two frontrunners in France's presidential election have staged rival rallies to win over undecided voters, a week before the first round of voting.
Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader of the National Front, said in Paris the choice was between her rivals' "savage globalisation" and her patriotism.
Also campaigning in the capital, centrist Emmanuel Macron said "our generation is ready for change".
Opinion polls predict the two will reach the second round on 7 May.
Mr Macron would be a favourite to win in the run-off, they suggest.
But at the same time, the polls suggest the race is tightening.
Conservative Francois Fillon, who has been embroiled in corruption allegations, and hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon are also in contention for the top two spots in the vote on 23 April.
Al Jazeera
Venezuela's defence minister has declared the army's "unconditional loyalty" to President Nicolas Maduro, who ordered troops onto the streets ahead of a major protest by opponents trying to oust him.
Vladimir Padrino Lopez made the comment on Monday before thousands of pro-Maduro militia members at a rally outside the presidential palace, where the president thanked the army and civilian backers for their support.
"Loyalty is repaid with loyalty," said Maduro.
Venezuela is bracing for what Maduro's opponents vow will be the "mother of all protests" on Wednesday, after two weeks of violent demonstrations against moves by the leftist leader and his allies to tighten their grip on power.
The centre-right opposition has called on the military - a pillar of Maduro's power - to turn on the president amid an economic and political crisis that has triggered severe food shortages, riots, and looting.
THE ENVIRONMENT, SCIENCE, HEALTH AND TECHNOLOGY
Climate Central
Communities across the Western U.S. and Canada may have to adapt to living with the ever-increasing threat of catastrophic wildfires as global warming heats up and dries out forests across the West, according to a University of Colorado study published Monday.
Residents living in neighborhoods adjacent to forests — known as “wildland-urban interface” zones — will have to accept that many wildfires may have to be allowed to burn and that building new homes in fire-prone forests should be discouraged, the study says.
Firefighters and policymakers will also have to adapt in new ways as catastrophic wildfires burn more land and destroy more homes than ever before.
Officials have long tried to cut wildfire risk by spending billions of dollars annually to “manage fuels” — physically removing some trees and underbrush from dense forests and intentionally setting some forests ablaze in controlled “prescribed burns.” In the dry season, firefighters rush to fight, or “suppress,” nearly all blazes to prevent them from spreading.
Yet homes and even whole communities still go up in flames, and there’s little indication that many efforts to reduce the risk have done much good, the study says.
Climate Central
The “March for Science” planned for April 22 in Washington has become a moment when science recognizes it must reclaim its rightful seat as protector of objective truth. The march is not about politics. It is about not throwing away our great engine of truth. And a working engine it is, gaining purchase as facts are uncovered, and casting so much prosperity and opportunity on America and the world in its wake.
Despite my former teacher Thomas Kuhn’s famous analysis of scientific revolutions, I am reminded that scientific revolutions are rare. Science mostly moves on fronts, in increments over decades, only occasionally welling up in creative froth with bubbles of idea-foam bursting forth, then solidifying in layers like sedimentary rock. The mechanism of peer review allows for new information to be uncovered. But it does not assure the information is true. Truth comes over time and test—call it a March ofScience. Facts become clear as research findings pack down, as scientists weigh evidence, accept or reject it, and advance to collective understanding that the evidence supports the idea.
NPR
On Friday, employees of BP Exploration Alaska discovered an uncontrolled gas leak in an oil and gas well on Alaska's North Slope, near the community of Deadhorse. Soon after, they determined that the well was also spraying a mist of crude oil.
BP reported the leak and formed a "unified command," which included responders from Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the North Slope Borough.
The well vented gas throughout the weekend. By Sunday, the crude was no longer spraying, and workers were able to activate a safety valve that reduced the pressure of the gas.
Climate Central (4/17/2017)
China, Brazil, India and South Africa have urged industrialized countries to honor financial commitments made in Paris in 2015 to help developing countries fight against global climate change, they said in a statement.
Following a meeting in Beijing, climate change ministers from the "BASIC" bloc of four major emerging economies called on rich countries "to honor their commitments and increase climate finance towards the $100 billion goal," and said more clarity was needed to "track and account for" those pledges.
Climate financing was a major bone of contention during negotiations to seal a new global deal to curb and reduce climate-warming greenhouse gases in Paris at the end of 2015, with China and other developing nations adamant that the bulk of the burden should fall to advanced industrialised nations like the United States.
As part of the Paris deal, developed countries agreed to make more funding available to a Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is designed to be used by poor and climate-vulnerable countries.
Reuters
A hazardous material spill at Tesla Inc's (TSLA.O) Gigafactory battery plant in Nevada on Monday was being investigated by emergency workers but there were no serious injuries, the company said.
Tesla spokesman Dave Arnold said a drum of "standard construction cleaning solvent" was spilled at a loading dock and a small area of the building was evacuated.
"Out of an abundance of caution, a couple of employees who may have been exposed are being transferred to the local hospital," said Arnold.
He said Tesla anticipated no effect on production.
SPORTS and ENTERTAINMENT
The Guardian
Kenya’s Geoffrey Kirui won the 121st Boston Marathon on Monday, pulling away from American Galen Rupp with about two miles to go to win in an unofficial time of 2hr 9min 37sec.
Rupp, a three-time Olympian making his Boston debut, was 21 seconds behind and Japan’s Suguru Osako was another 30 seconds back. Americans had six of the top 10 finishers in the men’s race and two of the top four women.
Kenyan policewoman Edna Kiplagat won the women’s race in 2hr 21min 52sec, needing only one try in Boston to add it to wins in London, New York and Los Angeles. She pulled ahead of Rose Chelimo of Bahrain in the Newton hills to win by 59 seconds.
“When I was running, my body was feeling good,” said Kiplagat, who was greeted at the finish line by two of her children. “I tried to push more, hard and I saw my (rivals) were not picking up the pace.”
American Jordan Hasay, making her debut at the distance, was third and Desi Linden was fourth – the first time since 1991 that two US women have finished in the top four.
The Guardian
1) Lady Gaga won the battle of the headliners
Radiohead were unfortunate with their technical woes and Kendrick Lamarplayed with the boundaries of what headline acts can get away with, but Lady Gaga’s hit-packed high-energy set was the one everyone was talking about. She drew the biggest crowd and got a huge response from the audience, who she managed to keep interested through some of her less well-known new material. There was a clear emphasis on the overblown EDM that’s been so popular on the main stage in recent years, and she managed to mix that with her pop theatrics and choreographed set pieces. The structure worked best as well, with the set building towards the bigger hits, such as Telephone and Bad Romance. Taking chances with a headline set is refreshing, but there is a tried-and-tested formula that puts big hits and entertaining staging front and centre.
2) Technical difficulties blighted some of the festival’s biggest moments
Radiohead’s interrupted Friday night headline slot was an embarrassing moment for a festival that prides itself on its slick professionalism. One stoppage in order to solve whatever problem was causing the power and sound to be lost from the main PA system would have been forgivable, if annoying. But three stoppages, which interrupted any flow in a set many people had paid full entrance price to see, was inexcusable. Technical issues are a given at live events on this scale and with groups parachuting in before leaving just as quickly, but for headliners the same rules don’t apply.
BuzzFeed
Newly released court documents reveal that the musician was prescribed oxycodone in a friend's name days before his death. Search warrants also show that multiple opioids were found around the musician's home.
Just days before Prince's accidental and fatal overdose, a doctor prescribed him oxycodone under a friend's name in order to protect the late musicians privacy, an affidavit unsealed on Monday revealed.
One affidavit reveals that Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg told authorities he prescribed oxycodone to Kirk Johnson, Prince's longtime friend and estate manager, "for Prince’s privacy." Dr. Schulenberg prescribed the drug to Prince six days before his death, on the same day his plane made an emergency landing in Illinois.
Although representatives for Prince originally said he was suffering from the flu, it was subsequently reported that Prince was treated with drugs that combat drug overdoses.
[...]
Monday's released documents do not reveal where Prince illegally obtained fentanyl, which was not prescribed to Prince or his friend. Oxycodone was not listed as a cause of death by the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office. The released search warrants show that investigators were searching cell phone records of Prince's friend and his emails to determine how the musician got a hold of the powerful drug that led to his accidental death.