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, planter, JML9999, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, 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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Chicago Sun-Times: 3 Chicago cops charged with conspiracy in Laquan McDonald case by Andy Grimm
In a historic move sure to be watched nationwide, three current or former Chicago Police officers are facing criminal charges in an alleged cover-up to protect Officer Jason Van Dyke, who fatally shot 17-year-old Laquan McDonald.
Special prosecutor Patricia Brown Holmes on Tuesday announced a three-count grand jury indictment charging patrol officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney and detective David March with conspiracy, obstruction of justice and official misconduct.
Holmes accused the trio of allegedly filing false accounts of the October 2014 shooting to keep Van Dyke from being accused of any wrongdoing. She also said the three failed to interview witnesses who might have contradicted their faulty version of events.
March, 58, the lead detective in the McDonald case, cleared Van Dyke of wrongdoing, despite dashcam video that appears to show McDonald walking away from Van Dyke when he opened fire and shot the teen 16 times.
Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder in November 2015 on the day before that video was publicly released.
Dallas Morning News: Friend's Facebook post about Iron Maiden show leads officials to fugitive by Marc Ramirez
An Austin fugitive is behind heavy metal bars after a friend's Facebook post led authorities to track him down at the Iron Maiden show in San Antonio.
President Trump’s administration will revoke a rule that gives the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority over regulating the pollution of wetlands and tributaries that run into the nation’s largest rivers, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt said Tuesday.
Testifying before Congress, Pruitt — who earlier said he would recuse himself from working on active litigation related to the rule — said that the agency would “provide clarity” by “withdrawing” the rule and reverting standards to those adopted in 2008.
Pruitt, as Oklahoma attorney general, had sued EPA over the regulation, saying it “usurps” state authority, “unlawfully broadens” the definition of waters of the United States and imposes “numerous and costly obligations” on landowners.
A withdrawal was expected, based on the executive order Trump signed in February targeting the rule. But this is the first clear signal of how the EPA will act on the president’s order.
Mother Jones: 1 in 5 Baby Food Samples Have Lead. Here's What You Need to Know.by Joanna Nix (6.22.17)
You may have caught wind of last week’s news that 20 percent of baby food—and 14 percent of other food—contains lead. The finding came from a report by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a nonprofit advocacy group. Here’s what you should know.
How do the researchers know that baby food contains lead? Four times a year, as part of the Food and Drug Administration’s Total Diet Study, agency workers go into grocery stores across the country and buy about 280 types of foods and beverages—from chicken pot pies to low-fat yogurt to whiskey. They test the samples for 800 different contaminants and nutrients and publish the results online. The EDF analyzed the FDA data from 2003 to 2013 and found that 20 percent of 2,164 baby food samples and 14 percent of the other 10,064 food samples contained lead. The baby foods that were most likely to contain lead were fruit juices, root vegetables, and cookies.
Which brands have the most lead? Nobody knows, because the FDA’s data doesn’t include brand names. We also don’t know why lead is more common in baby food than in other kinds of food. Tom Neltner, the chemicals policy director at the EDF and one of the authors of its study, told Mother Jones, “We’ve talked to manufacturers to try to find out and none of them have had an answer.”
Mic: Sarah Palin has filed a long-ditch lawsuit against the 'New York Times' by Tom McKay
Former Alaska governor, one-time vice presidential candidate and conservative celebrity Sarah Palin has filed a lawsuit against the New York Times for running an editorial insinuating she played a role in former Rep. Gabby Gifford's shooting.
According to a section of the lawsuit tweeted by CNN's Jake Tapper, Palin is suing over a June 14 editorial which she says "falsely stated as a matter of fact to millions of people that Mrs. Palin incited Jared Loughner's January 8, 2011, shooting rampage at a political event in Tucson, Arizona," in which Loughner hit 19 people, including Giffords, and killing six, including Chief U.S. District Court Judge John Roll.
The op-ed in question, "America's Lethal Politics," was a response to the attempted massacre in Alexandria, Virginia, of Republican legislators at a Congressional Baseball Game practice earlier this month.
The piece argued U.S. politics had become "vicious," particularly "heated political rhetoric on the right." It specifically cited that before the Loughner shooting, "Sarah Palin's political action committee circulated a map that showed the targeted electoral districts of Ms. Giffords and 19 other Democrats under stylized cross hairs."
The White House continued its attacks on mainstream media outlets on Tuesday, as its deputy press secretary called on the public to watch an undercover video obtained by a conservative group in which a CNN producer criticizes the network’s focus on the Trump-Russia story, labeling it “mostly bullsh-t.”
The video was the hot topic of discussion for the right, which used it to bolster their claims that CNN was peddling “fake news,” while Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders urged journalists and “everybody across the country” to take a look at it. She said that she did not know if it was accurate.
“I think if it is accurate, I think it’s a disgrace to all of media, to all of journalism,” she said at a White House press briefing.
“I think that we have gone to a place where if the media can’t be trusted to report the news, then that’s a dangerous place for America,” she said. “And I think if that is the place that certain outlets are going, particularly for the purpose of spiking ratings, and if that’s coming directly from the top, I think that’s even more scary and certainly more disgraceful. And I hope that that’s not the direction we’re headed. I hope that outlets that have continued to use either unnamed sources, sometimes stories with no sources at all. We’ve been going on this Russia-Trump hoax for the better part of a year now with no evidence of anything.”
A major global cyber attack on Tuesday disrupted computers at Russia's biggest oil company, Ukrainian banks and multinational firms with a virus similar to the ransomware that last month infected more than 300,000 computers.
The rapidly spreading cyber extortion campaign underscored growing concerns that businesses have failed to secure their networks from increasingly aggressive hackers, who have shown they are capable of shutting down critical infrastructure and crippling corporate and government networks.
It included code known as "Eternal Blue," which cyber security experts widely believe was stolen from the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) and was also used in last month's ransomware attack, named "WannaCry."
"Cyber attacks can simply destroy us," said Kevin Johnson, chief executive of cyber security firm Secure Ideas. "Companies are just not doing what they are supposed to do to fix the problem."
The ransomware virus crippled computers running Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Windows by encrypting hard drives and overwriting files, then demanded $300 in bitcoin payments to restore access. More than 30 victims paid into the bitcoin account associated with the attack, according to a public ledger of transactions listed on blockchain.info.
AFP: Ex-bosses to go on trial over Fukushima disaster
Three former executives at Fukushima's operator stand trial this week on the only criminal charges laid in the 2011 disaster, as thousands remain unable to return to homes near the shuttered nuclear plant.
The hearing on Friday comes more than a year after ex-Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata, 77, and former vice presidents Sakae Muto, 66, and Ichiro Takekuro, 71, were formally charged with professional negligence resulting in death and injury.
The indictments are the first -- and only -- criminal charges stemming from the tsunami-sparked reactor meltdowns at the plant that set off the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.
"We hope the trial will shed light on where the responsibility for this accident...lies," Ruiko Muto, who heads a group that pushed for the trial, told AFP.
"The accident hasn't been resolved. There is nuclear waste from the cleanup efforts everywhere in Fukushima and there are still many unresolved problems," she said.
The trial follows a battle over whether or not to indict the Tepco executives.
Guardian: Venezuela's supreme court attacked with grenade from police helicopter by Virginia Lopez
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has confirmed that two hand grenades were launched at the supreme court building on Tuesday evening from a helicopter. He said the helicopter was piloted by an agent from the country’s intelligence unit who then managed to escape.
Videos circulated on social media showed a man piloting the helicopter while holding a banner that read “Liberty. Article 350”, in reference to an article in the Venezuelan constitution that allows for citizens to declare themselves in civil disobedience in front of “any regime that runs counter to democratic guarantees or undermines human rights”.
The incident took place just hours after Maduro warned that he and his supporters would be willing to take up arms if his government was toppled by “undemocratic forces”.
Local media quoted witness accounts describing what they said had sounded like an exchange of fire between guards at the supreme court building and the helicopter. Maduro referred to the incident as an “act of terrorism”, and called on his supporters to activate a “new phase in the revolution” should anything happen to him.
BBC: Brazil President Temer rejects bribery charge 'fiction'
Brazilian President Michel Temer has rejected a bribery charge against him, saying it is a "fiction" based on "revenge and vengeance".
In a passionate speech, he questioned the authenticity of the evidence presented by Brazil's chief prosecutor.
Mr Temer is accused of receiving money from the executives of a meatpacking firm implicated in a corruption scandal. He denies any wrongdoing.
It is the first time that a sitting Brazilian president has faced charges.
Mr Temer rejected the evidence presented by chief prosecutor Rodrigo Janot, saying he mounted a baseless case that was an assault on his "dignity" and sought to "paralyse" Brazil as it recovers from a two-year recession.
"Where are the concrete proofs of my receiving this money?" Mr Temer asked during the televised address from the presidential palace in Brasilia.
"I will not allow myself to be accused of crimes that I did not commit."
Don’t forget that Mr. Meteor Blades is hosting an open thread for night owls tonight.
Everyone have a great evening!