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: Kim Foxx receiving death threats after charges dropped against Jussie Smollett by Tom Schuba
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has received a series of threats against her life and safety in the wake of her office’s decision earlier this month to abruptly drop criminal charges against “Empire” star Jussie Smollett, according to a high-ranking staffer and a political ally.
Jennifer Ballard Croft, Foxx’s chief of staff, confirmed Monday that Foxx’s “physical safety” has been threatened in the wake of the Smollett case.
“The State’s Attorney’s Office can confirm that the state’s attorney has received threats to her personal safety and security, a number of which have contained racially-charged language,” Ballard Croft told the Sun-Times.
Ballard Croft said the threatening messages have come in the form of emails and calls, but she declined to provide additional details about the specific nature of the threats. She said investigators with the state’s attorney’s office’s Investigations Bureau and Executive Protection Unit had been alerted to the threats.
It’s not enough simply to vote Kim Foxx out of office, is it?
I’m not endorsing that, of course, but that would provide the solution to the Smolett case if people are that dissatisfied with the State Attorney’s handling of the case.
Charleston Post and Courier: Investigation calls follow report of shoddy production at Boeing’s North Charleston plant by David Wren
Wall Street took notice of a report alleging shoddy production at Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner campus in North Charleston as analysts Monday said the claims, while unconfirmed, should spark a quick investigation.
“It might have validity, it might not — there’s no way of knowing,” Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with The Teal Group in Fairfax, Va., said of a report in The New York Times.
“It absolutely needs to be investigated, and everyone involved needs to pay a lot of attention to this,” he said.
An FAA spokeswoman did not respond to questions about whether an investigation will be forthcoming.
The agency, which has taken heat for letting Boeing certify many of its own production processes, will review software updates this month for Boeing’s 737 MAX program, which was grounded last month following two similar fatal crashes within a five-month period. The 737 MAX is built in Renton, Wash.
Boston Globe: Three Chinese runners accused of cheating in Boston Marathon by Emily Sweeney and John R. Ellement
Three Chinese runners accused of cheating in the 2019 Boston Marathon have been banned from running in any road races in China, according to China’s official news agency.
The Xinhua news agency reported that one of the runners allegedly gave his bib number to other people and the other two allegedly cheated their way into the marathon by forging their personal best result certificates to meet the Boston Marathon’s qualification standard.
They have subsequently been banned for life from competing in China by the Chinese Athletic Association, which serves as the country’s governing body of the sport, according to Xinhua.
Officials from the Boston Athletic Association, which organizes the Boston Marathon, said in a statement that they were disappointed by the allegations.
“Although the recent cheating allegations are a disappointment, we are highly confident that the vast majority of the field works hard, trains through all conditions, and brings integrity and good sportsmanship to our course,” BAA officials said in a statement e-mailed to the Globe.
Sacramento Bee: Report: Kings coach Luke Walton being sued for alleged sexual assault by Jason Anderson
This is a developing story.
A female sports reporter has filed a lawsuit alleging Kings coach Luke Walton sexually assaulted her sometime before he became head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, according to TMZ.
TMZ reported Monday evening that Kelli Tennant, who used to work for Spectrum Sportsnet LA, is suing Walton over an encounter in a Santa Monica hotel room. TMZ cited legal documents alleging Walton pinned Tennant to the bed in his room, forced kisses on her face, neck and chest, groped her breasts and groin, and rubbed his erection on her leg.
The TMZ report does not specify when the alleged sexual assault occurred, but it does indicate it happened before Walton began coaching the Lakers in 2016.
Walton, who was introduced as the Kings new coach last week, could not immediately be reached for comment. The Kings released a brief written statement.
“We are aware of the report and are gathering additional information,” the Kings said in the statement. “We have no further comment at this time.”
On one hand, I would think that the Sacramento Bee had taken a good look at those legal documents prior to filing this story but...I mean, come on...TMZ!?
Still, I can see how it’s a hot local story so...I guess…
Bloomberg: Kamala Harris Vows to Impose New Gun Limits by Executive Action by Sahil Kapur
Senator Kamala Harris vowed to use executive actions to tighten rules on firearms sales if she’s elected president and Congress fails to act on gun control in her first 100 days in office.
The California Democrat’s proposals to bypass Congress with actions that include expanding requirements for background checks and revoking licenses for gun manufactures and dealers found to have broken the law would almost certainly face legal challenges. But they represent her attempt to lean into a cause that has gained strong support in the Democratic Party following a wave of mass shootings over the past several years.
"Upon being elected, I will give the United States Congress 100 days to get their act together and have the courage to pass reasonable gun safety laws, and if they fail to do it, then I will take executive action," Harris said Monday night at a town hall event hosted by CNN in New Hampshire, site of the first primary in the 2020 nomination contest.
Harris would use executive power to require anyone who sells five or more guns per year to conduct a background check on all sales. The move would be aimed at closing a loophole in federal law that allows private sellers to transfer guns without such checks, according to a proposal released by her campaign.
On a spring morning in 2017, in a Grand Hyatt ballroom in midtown Manhattan, Michael Cartwright took the stage and talked about growth. “There’s no great brand out there—Nike, whatever you consider a great brand out there today—that doesn’t have a great sales and marketing platform,” he told the audience of health care investors and executives attending a UBS-sponsored confab. That’s why, Cartwright said, his company—American Addiction Centers, the nation’s only publicly traded addiction treatment chain—had built a thriving marketing machine.
And it was vast. Some 65 sales reps marketed AAC’s services to therapists, DUI attorneys, and doctors. The company operated more than 100 websites, ensuring AAC showed up frequently in search results. “If you type in ‘heroin addiction’ or ‘methamphetamine addiction,’” Cartwright, AAC’s CEO, told his audience, “you’re probably going to come across one of our websites.” Each month, roughly 30,000 calls came in to AAC’s call center in Nashville, where, he said, “we have 100 sales reps answering the phone every day.” AAC had dozens of facilities across eight states, including high-end residential centers, outpatient programs, and sober-living housing. According to Cartwright’s slides, the average residential client brought in more than $22,000 in revenue.
Two months after Cartwright’s presentation, on a scorching Friday morning a few miles from the Las Vegas Strip, 23-year-old Cody Arbuckle was found unresponsive in his room at Solutions, an AAC-owned “therapeutic recovery home.” Staffers were supposed to closely monitor patients in the throes of drug and alcohol withdrawal—a brutal process that can include vomiting, shaking, and seizing. But Arbuckle was left unattended for several hours, according to a police report and a subsequent lawsuit. A coroner concluded that Arbuckle overdosed on Imodium, an over-the-counter antidiarrheal that can cause a high in large doses.
Addiction and recovery from drugs and alcohol has been big business for quite awhile, as I well know.
Roll Call: House Democrats start following Mueller’s leads as they investigate Trump by Lindsey McPherson
House Democrats are starting to follow leads laid out in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report as their own investigations into President Donald Trump continue.
The caucus held a conference call Monday evening in which the six committee chairs who are investigating various matters involving Trump updated members on their next steps now that Mueller has concluded his investigation. Details shared with Roll Call were provided by people on the call who were not authorized to publicly disclose contents of the private caucus discussion.
Not included among the Democrats’ next moves is beginning impeachment proceedings against Trump. But some rank-and-file members on the call expressed a desire to go down that path, despite Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging caution on impeachment in a “Dear Colleague” letter she sent earlier Monday.
Reuters: U.S. records 71 new measles cases in week as outbreak spreads
(Reuters) - The United States recorded 71 new measles cases last week, a 13 percent increase as the country faces its second-worst outbreak of the disease in almost two decades, federal health officials said on Monday.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it had recorded 626 cases of the highly contagious and sometimes deadly disease in 22 states as of April 19, the highest rate of infection in five years.
The CDC had previously reported 555 cases in 20 states between Jan. 1 and April 11. The current outbreak will likely surpass the 2014 outbreak in number of cases, the CDC said on Monday.
Iowa and Tennessee were the two states that joined the CDC list with new measles cases.
Reuters: Sri Lanka wakes to emergency law after Easter bombing attacks by Sanjeev Miglani
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankans woke to emergency law on Tuesday as authorities searched for those behind suicide bomb attacks on churches and luxury hotels that killed 290 people at the weekend, with the focus turning to militants with links to foreign groups.
No group has yet to claim responsibility for Easter Sunday’s attacks on three churches and four luxury hotels that also wounded about 500 people.
Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said the number of people arrested since Sunday had risen from 24 to 40. They are mainly Sri Lankans, although Gunasekera said police were investigating whether foreigners were involved in the attacks carried out by seven suicide bombers.
The president’s office declared that emergency law would come into effect from midnight, giving police extensive powers to detain and interrogate suspects without court orders. An overnight curfew was also put into effect.
CNN: Philippines rocked by deadly 6.1-magnitude earthquake by Eric Cheung
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Bodega on the Philippine island of Luzon on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Pampanga Governor Lilia Pineda said at least eight people in the province were killed in the quake,
CNN Philippines reported. The earthquake could be felt in the capital of Manila as well as other parts of Luzon.
CNN Philippines said that at least 52 aftershocks have been recorded.
Jaime Melo, president of the Clark International Airport Corporation, said seven people suffered minor injuries when part of the ceiling at the check-in lobby of a passenger terminal collapsed, according to the Philippine News Agency.
AFP: 20 years on, Falungong survives underground in China
Sitting lotus-style on an apartment floor, two women quietly rotate their arms in front of them -- a rare sight in China where public displays of Falungong meditation have all but disappeared.
It is a shadow of the spiritual movement's heyday in China, where the group once boasted more than 70 million followers before it was outlawed in 1999, giving police carte blanche to persecute members.
But 20 years on, the group has remained stubbornly persistent, even as practitioners in mainland China continue to face arrests and torture, according to rights groups.
Before the crackdown, Falungong members would congregate in parks in large numbers to practise "qigong" meditation. Now they do their slow movement exercises behind closed doors.
"It doesn't matter how the Communist Party suppresses (Falungong), I don't think about it too much," one of the women, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the topic, told AFP.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia researchers reverse mental decline in diabetic mice by Ariel Hart
Georgia researchers appear to have confirmed how obesity can erode some patients’ brain function and possibly lead to dementia.
Scientists already knew that obesity and insulin resistance in middle age appeared to be tied sometimes to cognitive decline later in life. Using genetically engineered mice, scientists at the Medical College of Georgia were able to reverse the decline.
They just revealed their findings in The Journal of Neuroscience, one of the most prestigious journals in the field. It’s too soon to say whether this will lead to a new drug to stop the problem in humans. But in the meantime, the authors do say it shows that the reasons to be healthy are more than just physical.
Don’t forget that Meteor Blades is hosting an open thread for night owls tonight.
Everyone have a great evening!