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.
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Detroit News: Stevie Wonder among those visiting ailing Aretha Franklin by Oralandar Brand-Williams and Francis X. Donnelly
Celebrities and local religious leaders are among those visiting Aretha Franklin, who was reported in grave condition this week, according to close friends.
Motown legend Stevie Wonder, according to one source close to the family, and civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson visited Franklin after reports surfaced Monday about her condition. Her ex-husband, actor Glynn Turman, is expected to visit as well, according to the source.
Singer Beyoncé and her husband, rapper Jay-Z, paid homage to the legendary Queen of Soul during their concert Monday night at Ford Field saying, "This show tonight is dedicated to Aretha Franklin," Beyoncé told the 44,000 fans. "We love you and thank you."
Entertainer DJ Khaled, who opened for the couple, played Franklin's iconic tune "Respect" to the crowd at the concert.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago-area manufacturer to lay off 150 people, move operations to Mexico, to avoid tariffs on Chinese metal by Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz
A manufacturer of storage safes is closing its two Chicago-area factories and moving operations to Mexico, in part because of the Trump administration’s tariffs on metal from China.
Stack-On Products plans to lay off 128 people at its facility in north suburban Wauconda and 25 people at its McHenry plant when it closes both facilities Oct. 12, said Al Fletcher, human resources director for Alpha Guardian, the Las Vegas-based parent company.
“The operation is really not profitable,” Fletcher said. He said the decision to relocate operations to Juarez, Mexico, was made about two months ago when President Donald Trump announced tariffs on numerous goods and materials from China as well as other countries, to reduce what the president has called an unfair trade deficit.
“Mr. Trump is part of this,” Fletcher said. So far, the United States has imposed tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese technology goods and $3 billion of Chinese steel and aluminum, and has proposed another $16 billion.
Charlotte Observer: Poachers were hunting bears — then took aim at deputies instead, NC sheriff says by Joe Marusak
Sheriff’s investigators say they were fired upon when they went to investigate possible bear poaching in the North Carolina mountains. One of three suspects was charged with felony first-degree attempted murder.
The shots were fired on Saturday night in an area known for poaching in Henderson County, the sheriff’s office posted on Facebook. The county is south of Asheville.
At about 8 p.m., deputies “were dispatched to the South Mills River Road area” after someone fired a gun from a truck in the road, according to sheriff’s investigators.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission also was contacted “due to concerns and a history of wildlife poaching in that area,” the sheriff’s office said on Facebook.
Los Angeles Times: One cop came forward to expose secrets in his own ranks. The revelation rocked the court system by Maya Lau
Pittsburg Police Officer Michael Sibbitt was ready to testify in a murder trial when a lieutenant from his own department rushed to the courthouse to reveal a startling secret.
The lieutenant told the court that the officer had resigned more than a year earlier during an investigation into whether he had falsified reports and used excessive force.
Details about allegations against Sibbitt and his partner had not been disclosed in more than a dozen other criminal cases in which the officers had made arrests.
The revelation in a Contra Costa County courthouse in 2015 had a sweeping effect: Nineteen convictions secured with help from the two officers were dismissed after prosecutors learned of the misconduct investigation.
The incident rocked the criminal justice system in this Bay Area suburb and showed how information from officers’ confidential disciplinary files can change the outcome of cases — if courts are made aware of the material.
Washington Post: With little fanfare, Trump and McConnell reshape the nation’s circuit courts by Sean Sullivan and Mike DeBonis
As the Senate moves toward confirming Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are leading a lower-key yet deeply consequential charge to remake the entire federal judiciary.
The Senate will return Wednesday from an abbreviated summer recess to confirm two more federal appeals court judges by the end of the week. That would come on top of a record-breaking string of confirmations: The Senate already has installed 24 appellate judges since Trump was sworn in, the highest number for a president’s first two years in office.
While much of the focus has been on Kavanaugh and Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, the Senate’s rapid approval of appellate judges is likely to have its own broad impact on the nation, as the 13 circuit courts will shape decisions on immigration, voting rights, abortion and the environment for generations.
Mic: Randy Bryce wins Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s 1st District for chance to succeed Paul Ryan by Emily C. Singer
Ironworker and labor activist Randy Bryce won a Democratic primary in Wisconsin’s 1st District Tuesday night. He will move on to a general election in the race to succeed retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan.
Bryce, who rose to national prominence thanks to a viral campaign ad on health care, defeated his Democratic opponent, Cathy Myers, 59.2% to 40.8%, with 60% of precincts reporting, according to the New York Times.
Bryce now hopes his progressive platform — including supporting a $15 minimum wage, Medicare for All and the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement — can propel him to victory in this suburban Milwaukee district that President Donald Trump carried by a 10-point margin in 2016.
Bryce will face off with University of Wisconsin Regent Bryan Steil, who won the GOP primary Tuesday night. Steil defeated a crowded field, including white supremacist Paul Nehlen, thanks to the help of Ryan’s endorsement.
Buzzfeed: Senate Intel Wants To Follow The Money In The Russia Probe. But Treasury Isn't Making That Easy. By Emma Loop and Jason Leopold
In its investigation of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, the Senate Intelligence Committee has spent more than a year trying to follow the money. But its efforts, unparalleled on Capitol Hill, have been hampered by a surprising force: the US Treasury Department, which has delayed turning over crucial financial records and refused to provide an expert to help make sense of the complex money trail. Even some of the department’s own personnel have questioned whether Treasury is intentionally hamstringing the investigation.
Little is known about what, exactly, goes on behind the locked doors that lead into the committee’s offices. But now, interviews and emails obtained by BuzzFeed News lay bare the numerous hurdles the secretive committee has faced in its mission to obtain and decipher troves of banking records that could shed more light on the Russian scheme — and whether the current president had anything to do with it.
Treasury has at times been reluctant to cooperate with the committee’s requests for sensitive financial documents that are significant to the Russia probe, at one point going at least four months without responding to one of the committee’s requests.
Last year, Treasury rejected the committee’s request for help from one of its experts, even as Treasury officials have speculated — behind closed doors — that the Senate committee would not be able to follow the twisting financial trail laid out in the documents they had turned over, a path that often passes through offshore shell companies or untraceable cash transactions.
Guardian: Genoa bridge collapse: at least 23 killed, Italian official says by Angela Giuffrida
Rescuers were continuing to work in extreme conditions late on Tuesday after a bridge collapsed in the northern Italian city of Genoa, killing at least 23 people and injuring 15.
In what witnesses described as an “apocalypse”, an 80-metre section of the Morandi bridge on the A10 motorway came down in an industrial area of the port city during a sudden and violent storm about 11.30am on Tuesday.
The Twitter account for the Liguria region said that of the 23 confirmed dead, 19 had been identified, and 15 people had been injured, the majority seriously.
Luigi D’Angelo, head of the emergency unit at the civil protection service, warned the death toll was likely to rise.He added that the cause of the collapse should be known within hours.
About 30 vehicles, including cars and trucks, were on the affected section of the bridge when it fell 100 metres, mostly on to rail tracks, the fire service said.
BBC: Venezuela: Military figures arrested after drone 'attack'
Venezuelan authorities say they have arrested 14 more people in connection with an alleged attempt to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
Among those detained are a general and a colonel from the National Guard.
President Maduro has accused opposition politicians and neighbouring Colombia of plotting to kill him in a drone attack during a military parade in the capital Caracas on 4 August.
Chief prosecutor Tarek Saab said 12 other people were so far in detention.
Venezuela has issued 27 arrest warrants for the apparent attempt on Mr Maduro. Those arrested to date include a lawmaker and several young men.
The Venezuelan authorities say other suspects are still at large, many in neighbouring Colombia and the United States.
AlJazeera: What's next for Turkey after lira slump? By Andrew Wilks
A turbulent five days for the Turkish economy has seen the lira hit a record lowagainst the US dollar, sparking fears of a meltdown as Ankara and Washington traded blows over the detention of an American pastor in Turkey.
Although the case of Andrew Brunson, an Christian Evangelical preacher from North Carolina, has been the focus of the deterioration in US-Turkish relations, Turkey's existing economic woes have merely been exacerbated by the row, according to analysts.
In June, Turkey held elections which were brought forward more than a year largely because of the economic crisis on the horizon.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump imposed sanctions against two Turkish government ministers and last Friday he doubled the tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Turkey to 50 and 20 percent respectively, setting off a dramatic slide in the lira.
Sydney Morning Herald: Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten, Pauline Hanson unite to condemn Fraser Anning over immigration 'final solution' by Michael Koziol
Political leaders across the spectrum - from the Greens to One Nation - have united to condemn an "appalling" speech by Senator Fraser Anning in which he called for a "final solution" on immigration.
The Katter's Australian Party senator, who defected from One Nation, also used his maiden speech to urge a ban on Muslim migration and a return to the discriminatory White Australia Policy.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described Senator Anning's remarks as "appalling" and said there was "no place in Australia for racism".
"We are a nation that does not define its nationality, its identity, by reference to race or religion or cultural background or ethnic background," he said.
"People from every corner of the earth, from every religion - or of none - and every race can connect, be inspired by, be part of [our] values. That is Australia.
Everyone have a great evening!