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.
Chicago Sun-Times: Johnson Publishing Co., which started Ebony, Jet magazines, files for bankruptcy by Jon Seidel
Chicago’s historic Johnson Publishing Company has filed for bankruptcy, court records show.
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition was filed late Tuesday afternoon by the company once responsible for Ebony and Jet magazines. It sold the magazines in 2016, meaning Tuesday’s move does not affect the publications.
“This decision was not easy, nor should it have been,” the company said in a press release announcing the move. “Johnson Publishing Company is an iconic part of American and African American history since our founding in 1942, and the company’s impact on society cannot be overstated.”
The company said it “was caught in a tidal wave of marketplace changes and business issues which, despite exhaustive efforts, could not be overcome.” It said it hoped to maximize the value of its assets through a sale which would benefit its creditors.
The filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago is a painful reminder of how far the company has fallen since its heyday as one of the most recognizable African American brands in the nation.
Detroit Free Press: Michigan measles outbreak spreads to Washtenaw County as 2 new cases announced by Kristen Jordan Shamus
Michigan's measles outbreak is continuing to intensify as two new cases were confirmed Monday — including the first in Washtenaw County — bringing the total number of people infected with the highly contagious virus to 41 this year.
Those who have been infected in Michigan range in age from 8 months old to 63 years old, but the majority of cases, 26, have been in adults over the age of 19. And most cases have been in Oakland County.
Both of the people in the two new cases, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services said Monday, were in people under the age of 18. This comes on the heels of news that Birmingham Derby Middle School student also has the virus and may have exposed classmates on March 29.
Los Angeles Times: Magic Johnson stepping down as Lakers' president of basketball operations by Tania Ganguli and Broderick Turner
Magic Johnson is stepping down as Lakers president of basketball operations, he announced during an impromptu news conference on Tuesday evening before the team's regular-season finale against the Portland Trail Blazers.
"I was happier when I wasn't the president," said Johnson, who mentioned he had not informed owner Jeanie Buss of his decision. "I couldn't face her to tell her."
Johnson, who has served in the role since February 2017, hinted strongly that he wanted to fire coach Luke Walton but now did not expect Walton to lose his job.
"It's hard when you love an organization like I love this organization," Johnson said as he started to cry. "It's hard when you love a person like I love Jeanie."
Miami Herald: Families of Parkland victims expected to file suit against school board, other agencies by David Smiley, Carli Terpoff, and Martin Vassolo
Attorneys representing several families whose children died or were injured in last year’s mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School will announce “sweeping action” Wednesday against the Broward County School Board and other defendants.
The actions come just over a year after 17 students and staff members were killed and another 17 were injured at the Parkland school when confessed shooter Nikolas Cruz opened fire in the hallways of the school.
Lawyers and family members of those killed and injured will detail the specifics in a Wednesday morning press conference in Fort Lauderdale.
“Speakers will discuss how the School Board [officials] have publicly said they would do what is right for the victims and their families, but behind the scenes the Board is dragging its feet,” according to a press release.
BOSTON (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors filed fresh conspiracy and money laundering charges on Tuesday against 16 parents charged with paying bribes to secure their children seats in elite universities in the largest college admissions scam uncovered in U.S. history.
Parents including “Full House” actor Lori Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli had already been charged with racketeering conspiracy for their alleged role in the scheme, in which parents paid some $25 million in bribes to secure their offspring places at universities including Yale, Georgetown and the University of Southern California.
Fourteen parents, including “Desperate Housewives” star Felicity Huffman, on Monday pleaded guilty to taking part in the scam, masterminded by California college admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer.
Buzzfeed: What Happened When Pete Buttigieg Tore Down Houses In Black And Latino South Bend by Henry Gomez
SOUTH BEND, Indiana — Regina Williams-Preston got into politics so that the city wouldn’t do to anyone else what the mayor’s big redevelopment plan did to her.
His program to knock down hundreds of homes in black and Latino neighborhoods like hers smacked of gentrification and ultimately cost her family several investment properties they hoped to repair but couldn’t after Williams-Preston’s husband suffered a serious illness.
Williams-Preston turned her anger into a successful run for city council. She pushed for more resources and fewer fines for those eager but struggling to renovate vacant homes. She demanded a deeper understanding of how big redevelopment plans can wipe out the fragile capital accumulations in communities of color. And now she is running for mayor, a job that’s opening up because the man behind the aggressive demolition program wants to be president.
Pete Buttigieg, the improbable, suddenly upper-tier Democratic contender, treats the initiative as an unfailing example of his executive leadership and one that shows why the mayor of South Bend, Indiana (population 102,000), deserves a promotion to the White House. Buttigieg gave himself a nice, round-numbered goal and an urgent deadline: 1,000 vacant and abandoned houses bulldozed or repaired within 1,000 days. Then he finished ahead of schedule.
The New Yorker: The High-Stakes Battle Between Donald Trump and the Federal Reserve by John Cassidy
In Donald Trump’s world, there is always another person responsible for his woes, and, as Kirstjen Nielsen, the departing Secretary of Homeland Security, just discovered, that person often ends up getting fired or forced out. But what if Trump doesn’t have the power to dismiss the object of his anger, or he fears blowback from Congress and the financial markets? Then you get the White House’s current campaign to undermine the independence of the Federal Reserve and its head, Jerome Powell.
For months now, Trump has been publicly railing against the Fed. In private, Bloomberg reported, he has been asking his aides if he can fire Powell, a sixty-six-year-old Republican banker who was confirmed at the start of last year. (According to legal experts, the question is a murky one.) On Friday, Trump again defied the convention that the President stays out of monetary policy, calling on Powell and his colleagues to cut interest rates in order to boost the economy. Referring to the rate hikes that the Fed introduced last year, which were the source of his animus toward Powell, Trump said, “I think they really slowed us down.” Trump’s senior economic adviser in the White House, Larry Kudlow, has also called for a rate cut.
In addition to jawboning the Fed, Trump has moved to exert more control over its deliberations by announcing his intention to nominate two of his ardent political supporters to its board of directors: Stephen Moore, a conservative commentator who served as an economic adviser to the Trump campaign in 2016, and Herman Cain, a Republican businessman who ran for President, in 2012. Ignoring widespread criticism that neither Moore nor Cain is remotely qualified to sit on the Fed’s board, Kudlow said on Sunday that Trump is standing behind both of them. “We have two open seats,” he told CNN. “The President has every right in the world to nominate people who share his economic philosophy.”
The British pharmaceutical firm Indivior Inc has been indicted over an alleged scheme to push its treatment for people addicted to opioids and reap billions of dollars from it.
A grand jury in the federal court in Abingdon, Virginia, said that Indivior marketed Suboxone Film, an opioid-based drug, as a safe and controllable treatment for opioid and heroin addiction.
But the indictment on Tuesday said that Indivior – until 2014 known as Reckitt Benckiser group – sought to boost sales by illegally telling healthcare providers and programs that Suboxone Film, which contains the opioid buprenorphine, was better and safer than similar drugs, when in fact it was not.
The company also established a telephone program for patients to call to be connected with a doctor for opioid addiction and dependence treatment, which Indivior used to connect patients to doctors Indivior knew were prescribing Suboxone and/or other opioids in a careless and clinically unwarranted manner, the indictment says.
BBC: Israeli election: Netanyahu and Gantz both claim victory
Exit polls in Israel suggest there will be no clear winner in the closely fought general election.
The centrist Blue and White alliance of former military chief Benny Gantz was projected to win 36 or 37 seats, with the Likud party of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu taking 33 to 36.
Both men have claimed victory.
Two exit polls predicted that right-wing parties allied to Mr Netanyahu were more likely to be able to form a governing coalition.
But a third exit poll predicted that the bloc would be tied with centre-left parties allied to Mr Gantz.
"We won! The Israeli public has had its say!" Blue and White said in a statement. "These elections have a clear winner and a clear loser."
But at his party's election headquarters in Tel Aviv, Mr Netanyahu was also celebrating.
I see other stories stating that Netanyahu will win a fifth term as PM.
DW: India elections: Can Narendra Modi repeat his 2014 success? By Ritika Pandey and Manasi Gopalakrishnan
This year, around 900 million people are eligible to vote for the 543-strong Lok Sabha, India's lower house of parliament. The polls, which begin on April 11 and end on May 19, will be held in seven phases to ensure free and fair elections. Many Indian states will complete voting in one day, whereas others with larger populations will take multiple days for ballot casting. Votes will be counted on May 23.
More than 84 million people, including 15 million aged 18 or 19, are going to vote for the first time. Around 430 million women are expected to vote and could exceed the number of male voters for the first time in a general election in India, the world's largest democracy.
This year's polls could be the most expensive ever in India. According to the Centre for Media Studies, the 2019 vote will cost the election commission around $7 billion (€6.21 billion), up from $5 billion in 2014. In comparison, $6.5 billion were spent in the 2016 United States presidential and Congressional elections. Experts say that political parties in India will spend some of this amount on social media campaigns.
Don’t forget that Meteor Blades is hosting an open thread for night owls tonight.
Everyone have a great evening!