Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, Interceptor7, Magnifico, annetteboardman and Besame. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Man Oh Man, wader, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck, 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.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Reuters- North Korea to allow international inspections for nuclear dismantlement, if U.S. takes reciprocal measures
SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea agreed to allow international inspectors to observe a “permanent dismantlement” of its key missile facilities, and will take additional steps such as closing its main Yongbyon nuclear complex if the United States takes reciprocal measures, South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Wednesday.
North and South Korea agreed that the Korean Peninsula should turn into a “land of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threats,” Moon said following the conclusion of his summit talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Former Chicago Police Officer Joseph Walsh stood about two feet from the jury box Tuesday, playing the role of Laquan McDonald as Walsh re-enacted the final seconds of the 17-year-old’s life before he was shot.
Walsh volunteered to step off the witness stand during cross-examination by lawyers for his former partner, Jason Van Dyke. He directed Van Dyke’s lawyer, Randy Rueckert, to stand at the back of the well of the courtroom, at about the distance Walsh said he and Van Dyke were from McDonald, seconds before Van Dyke fired 16 shots at the knife-wielding McDonald.
McDonald was getting “more aggressive” as he walked on a diagonal line past — and slightly away — from the two officers, Walsh told the jury.
“His right shoulder and right arm had come up in front of him . . . as he progressed in our direction,” Walsh said, pivoting toward the jury box. “He turned and looked in our direction, with a stare and a focus beyond us, like that.”
Jurors looked at Walsh, their attention rapt.
Detroit Free Press- Don't swallow Huron River foam — and keep your pets away from it by Keith Matheny
The expanding list of warnings related to chemical contamination in the Huron River has gotten even more extensive, with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services advising people on Tuesday, as a precaution, to avoid swallowing foam on the Huron River, or letting their pets near it.
The concern is that the foam may contain high amounts of the potentially harmful class of chemicals known as per- or polyfluoroalkyl compounds, or PFAS. The chemical contamination has already prompted state officials this summer to issue do-not-eat advisories for fish caught in the Huron River and connected ponds and lakes across five counties, from Base Line and Portage lakes on the Livingston-Washtenaw county line northwest of Ann Arbor all the way east to Lake Erie.
Tuesday's advisory was issued as a precaution because of high amounts of PFAS in Huron River surface water and fish, and based on foam test PFAS results from other Michigan water bodies, health officials said in a release.
Baltimore Sun- Maryland man charged in $364 million Ponzi scheme by Christine Tkacik
The million dollar home in Towson is just one of five Kevin B. Merrill purchased in Maryland. He also had 25 cars — including two Rolls Royces — a boat, seven Richard Mille watches and an interest in a Gulfstream plane, according to court documents.
Last week, Merrill and two others, Jay B. Ledford and Cameron R. Jezierski, were indicted by a Maryland grand jury on charges that they defrauded investors of more than $364 million from January 2013 on.
Federal officials announced the indictment Tuesday, calling it one of the largest schemes ever charged in the region.
Together, officials say, Merrill, Ledford and Jezierski allegedly ran a Ponzi scheme whereby they convinced investors to give them money, which they then pretended to invest in consumer debt portfolios. Instead, they allegedly used the money to pay other investors and to fund lavish personal lifestyles.
Authorities accuse them of creating imposter companies and falsified bank statements and transfers as well as phony sales agreements, according to the indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday. Meanwhile, they used more than $73 million of their investors’ money to buy houses, gamble in casinos, luxury cars and other goods.
Miami Herald- Feds fine contractors behind deadly FIU bridge collapse for ‘serious’ safety violations by Nicholas Nehamas
The contractors who designed and built the disastrous Florida International University bridge have been cited by federal authorities for several “serious” worker-safety violations and face tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
The companies failed to provide workers with a proper safety line and did not remove them from the area despite the bridge developing cracks of “significant width, depth and length at critical locations,” according to a series of citations issued Tuesday by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The FIU pedestrian bridge collapsed March 15 while it was still under construction over Southwest Eighth Street, killing five motorists below and a worker, Navaro Brown, who had been standing atop the span. An additional five workers were seriously injured, including one, Kevin Hanson, who sustained a serious brain injury and went into a lengthy coma.
Footage of the accident captured the awful moment when the bridge fell. One worker, clearly visible, is seen in mid-air tumbling toward the ground.
San Diego Union-Tribune- California's children fall behind before they start school, and some never catch up, study finds by Howard Blume
When students enter school in California, they learn at a pace on par with — if not better than — those in other states.
The problem is that they arrive far behind their national peers, and they never catch up.
This conclusion, from a sweeping research project aimed at charting future education policy, focuses new attention on what is often overlooked: infant and toddler care, parenting skills, preschool and early childhood education.
The researchers argue that if California wants to improve student achievement in schools, it has to start much earlier so that children are prepared when they show up for kindergarten.
Many “don’t have access to any care, let alone quality care,” said
Stanford Universityeducation professor Deborah Stipek, one of the lead researchers. “It’s not just a problem for low-income families, although affordability is a serious issue. It’s a problem for many, many families because fewer people are going into being providers for child care.”
Those who tend to be least prepared for school are low-income Latino and black students, including recent immigrants and those in foster care, the experts said.
Free college tuition is all fine and good but without further addressing the inequalities that exist at lower levels of education, education inequality simply become even more reinforced, imo.
Mother Jones (c/o City Lab)- The Gullah-Geechee People Called Carolina’s Coast Home for Centuries. Then Florence Came. By Laura Bliss
On Monday, Sheldon Scott flew from his home in Washington, DC, to Pawleys Island, South Carolina, where his mother and sister live. He was on an evacuation mission: With Hurricane Florence bearing in, he needed to get his family members to safety.
The decision to leave the island was not easy. “It’s the only home my mom has ever known,” Scott, an artist and performer, said by phone from DC, where his family is now, too.
Pawleys Island is a narrow, 4-mile long barrier island south of Myrtle Beach, connected to the mainland by a pair of causeways. The land Scott’s mother lives on was part of the rice plantation where their family members were enslaved more than 150 years ago, he said. Her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother all lived on the island—and generations before that, too. That’s the story of the Gullah/Geechee nation, an estimated 200,000 people living on the barrier islands of the Carolina, Georgia, and Florida coast. They carry on a distinct culture rooted in West Africa, where many of their ancestors were enslaved by British traders in the colonial era.
FiveThirtyEight- Why Manafort’s Flip May Matter More Than 25 Russian Indictments by Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux
For much of the past year, whenever a major new indictment has come down in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, we’ve been showingyou a version of this chart.
As Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential coordination with the Trump campaign moved forward, the indictments stacked up with impressive speed. So far, Mueller has charged 32 people in connection with the Russia investigation, far more than other major special-counsel investigations like Whitewater and Iran-Contra yielded. (Among the special investigations on our chart, only Watergate has more.)
There’s a problem, though, with simply comparing the number of indictments in different investigations. That approach assumes that all the indictments are in the same general category. For the Mueller investigation, they aren’t.
AlJazeera- Exclusive: US police 'using Tiger Text app to conceal evidence' by Simon Bozaman and Jeremy Young
Long Beach, Southern California - Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit has discovered that a self-deleting messaging app called Tiger Text has been adopted by at least one US police department, which may have used it to share sensitive and potentially incriminating information that they wouldn't want to be disclosed to a court.
Current and former officers from the Long Beach Police Department in Southern California have told Al Jazeera that their police-issued phones had Tiger Text installed on them.
The Tiger Text app is designed to erase text messages after a set time period. Once the messages have been deleted, they cannot be retrieved - even through forensic analysis of the phone.
The police officers who spoke with Al Jazeera said the confidential messaging system was used to share details of police operations and sensitive personnel issues.
Roll Call- EPA Watchdog to Step Down as Scott Pruitt Probes Continue by Elvina Nawaguna
The EPA’s inspector general, who led multiple investigations into former Administrator Scott Pruitt’s spending and management practices at the agency, will leave in October, his office announced Tuesday.
Arthur A. Elkins Jr., who has been EPA inspector general since 2010, said in a news release that he will retire on Oct. 12, but did not indicate whether his departure is related to issues at the agency. Before becoming inspector general, Elkins worked as associate general counsel in the EPA’s Office of General Counsel.
Elkins has overseen nearly a dozen investigations into several allegations surrounding Pruitt’s ethical and spending habits at the agency, at times contradicting the then administrator. Some of the probes remain underway.
Bloomberg- China Strikes $60 Billion of U.S. Goods in Growing Trade War by Enda Curran, Andrew Mayeda, and Jenny Leonard
China announced it will take retaliatory tariff action against $60 billion of U.S. goods, sharply escalating their trade conflict as the Trump administration considers imposing duties on almost all Chinese imports.
China’s retaliatory tariffs, on items ranging from meat to wheat and textiles, will take effect on Sept. 24, China’s Ministry of Finance said in a statement posted on its website. Beijing is still ready to negotiate an end to the trade tensions with the U.S., the ministry said.
At almost the same time Beijing released its list of counter-tariff targets, President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened more punitive measures against China if it targets politically potent U.S. agricultural products for retaliation.
Guardian- UK employers condemn 'ignorant, elitist' Brexit immigration report by Dan Sabbagh and Lisa O’Carroll
Business leaders have lined up to criticise the government’s migration advisory committee (MAC) after it proposed an “ignorant and elitist” ban on foreign workers earning less than £30,000 a year from obtaining visas to work in the UK after Brexit.
Organisations representing hauliers, housebuilders and the hospitality sector were among those to sound the alarm after the committee said only “higher skilled” workers should be allowed visas, with no preferential access given to European Union citizens.
Richard Burnett, the chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, which represents 7,000 hauliers, said: “We need an immigration policy across all skill levels. It is about what our businesses need. The idea that only high-skilled immigration should be allowed is both ignorant and elitist.”
Brian Berry, the chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders, warned that his industry would be crippled: “It’s not at all clear that EU workers with important skills already in short supply, like bricklaying and carpentry, will not fall foul of a crude and limited definition of ‘high-skilled’ worker.”
BBC- South Africa's highest court legalises cannabis use
South Africa's highest court has legalised the use of cannabis by adults in private places.
Pro-marijuana activists cheered in the public gallery and chanted "Weed are free now" when the Constitutional Court gave its landmark ruling.
In a unanimous ruling, judges also legalised the growing of marijuana for private consumption.
South Africa's government had opposed its legalisation, arguing the drug was "harmful" to people's health.
It has not yet commented on the ruling, which is binding.
Three cannabis users who had faced prosecution for using the drug brought the case, saying the ban "intrudes unjustifiably into their private spheres".
DW- Argentina: Ex-President Cristina Fernandez indicted for corruption
Argentina's former President Cristina Fernandez has been indicted on corruption charges and a federal judge has requested that her immunity be lifted.
On Monday, Judge Claudio Bonadio accused Fernandez of "being the boss of an illegal association" and running a corruption network between 2003 and 2015. The period covers her two terms as president as well as that of her late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner.
Fernandez is a senator and has immunity from arrest but not prosecution. It is unlikely Congress would lift her immunity.
The corruption scandal emerged in August when the newspaper La Nacion published detailed notebooks from the chauffeur of Fernandez's former planning minister detailing a multimillion dollar kickback scheme between officials and businesses for public works contracts.
The so-called "notebooks case" has implicated dozens of former government officials and business leaders.
Speigel Online- Interview with Iranian Foreign Minister'The Nuclear Agreement Is Not a Love Affair' by Christiane Hoffman
DER SPIEGEL: Mr. Foreign Minister, in May, United States President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal. In August, sanctions against your country were reimposed and since then, the Iranian economy has been struggling. Do you feel as though you have been left in the lurch by Europe?
Zarif: The Europeans are facing a very fundamental question on the principles of international relations. The U.S. wants to force its political and economic will onto the rest of the world. There is a UN Security Council resolution on the nuclear agreement and Iran is observing it while the U.S. is violating it. Now, the U.S. is demanding that others join them in breaking international law. Europe has to decide whether it will submit to that demand. It is a precedent that will have consequences for a very long time.
AP- College Football Top 10
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Clemson
4. THOSE people
5. Oklahoma
6. LSU
7. Stanford
8. Notre Dame
9. Auburn
10. Washington, Penn State (tie)
Don’t forgt that Meteor Blades is hosting an open thread for night owls tonight.
Everyone have a great evenng!