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: Rahm’s leadership legacy: ‘A’ for making tough decisions, ‘F’ for collaboration by Fran Spielman
Is it possible to succeed as a mayor of Chicago and fail as a leader of its people?
As he leaves office, Rahm Emanuel appears to have done just that.
If the measure of success is having the guts to make the tough decisions his predecessor punted, Emanuel passes that test with flying colors.
Who else would have the audacity to push through a $2 billion avalanche of tax increases to chip away at the pension crisis?
Who else would stop subsidizing retiree health care and brag about it, consolidate mental health clinics, close 50 schools in one fell swoop and lengthen the school day, demanding that it take effect immediately?
Who else would give movie mogul George Lucas lakefront land to build a museum and cut an O’Hare Express deal with Elon Musk — two projects that ultimately went nowhere?
But being mayor isn’t only about making tough decisions and giving people what you deem to be in their best interests. It’s about listening to disparate views with sensitivity, building consensus and giving people at least some say in their own destiny.
On that test of leadership, Emanuel failed.
Chicago Tribune/Daily Southtown: Hundreds of Homewood-Flossmoor students walk out of class to protest school response to blackface incident by Zak Koeske
Hundreds of Homewood-Flossmoor High School students spilled out of their school just after noon Tuesday to protest the school’s handling of a blackface incident involving white students.
The sea of protesters, which students estimated to include most of the predominantly black student body of nearly 2,800, marched across the school’s front lawn and down Kedzie Avenue toward Flossmoor Road before turning around and staging on the sidewalk outside of a CVS Pharmacy.
The energized students, who were joined by dozens of parents and activists, raised signs, and chanted for justice in what many said was their first act of civil disobedience.
The primary complaint aired both by students and parents was what they considered the school’s failure to be transparent and fair in disciplining the four white students who went into the community with their faces painted black and broadcast their exploits, including a trip to McDonald’s, on social media.
“It’s just unfair,” said one junior student, who is black. “We’re not treated equally in the school, punishment-wise. If we were to do something like that then we’d probably get expelled.”
Charlotte Observer: 2 killed at UNC Charlotte, 4 others injured. Suspect in custody, police say by Joe Marusak and Teo Armus
Two people died and four others were hurt in a shooting in a building on the UNC Charlotte campus on Tuesday afternoon, police said.
One person was arrested in the shooting, police said. Three of the four injured are in critical condition, UNCC police said at a news conference..
About 7:30 p.m., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police tweeted that the “scene was secure” and that they had one person in custody.
“No reason to believe anyone else involved,” police tweeted.
Police had not officially named the suspect or the victims as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the shooter’s motive was not known.
Two or three campus police officers quickly entered the building where shots were reported at about 5:42 p.m. and took a suspect into custody, Jeff Baker, chief of the UNCC Police and Public Safety Department, said at a news conference late Tuesday. “He never had time to get out of the room.”
San Diego Union-Tribune: 19-year-old pleads not guilty in Poway synagogue shooting by Pauline Repard
SAN DIEGO —A 19-year-old man accused of shooting four people — killing one — inside a Poway synagogue on Saturday made his first appearance in court Tuesday, pleading not guilty through his attorney to murder and other charges in what could become a death penalty case.
John T. Earnest of Rancho Peñasquitos was arrested shortly after the shooting. In addition to the murder charge, he faces three counts of attempted murder, gun allegations and one count of arson associated with a fire at an Escondido mosque last month. Because of special-circumstance hate crime allegations, Earnest could face the death penalty.
The District Attorney’s Office has not yet decided whether it will seek the death penalty if Earnest is convicted.
New York Daily News: Brooklyn pols demand probe after NYPD detective files complaint about racist ‘frat house’ culture in 66th Precinct by Trevor Boyer
Brooklyn politicians outraged by reports of racist bullying in the NYPD are calling for a probe of the 66th precinct that is the center of a civil rights complaint filed by a city detective.
Veteran Det. Michael Moy, in a complaint filed last Wednesday with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said two fellow officers in the 66th precinct habitually used racist language about crime victims in the diverse neighborhood. The detectives also made fun of Det. Moy’s Asian heritage, he said in his complaint, which was first reported by the Daily News.
Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams on Tuesday noted that the 66th precinct includes sections of Borough Park and Sunset Park and serves Asian, Jewish and Hispanic populations.
“If the allegations that were laid out in the story, if they are true, that’s alarming because that area of the borough is extremely diverse,” said Adams, a former police captain who spent 22 years in the NYPD.
Columbus Dispatch: Could Michigan's high drug prices flow south to Ohio? By Cathy Candisky
A new study shows that pharmacy middlemen were profiting from Michigan’s Medicaid program much as they have in Ohio and other states, and also warns of a potentially new drug-pricing scheme.
The analysis of spending on more than 2 million prescriptions for generic drugs found that pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, charged Michigan taxpayers far more than they paid pharmacies to dispense the medications to Medicaid beneficiaries.
The practice, known as spread pricing, allowed PBMs to increase their profits, pushing Medicaid's drug spending higher despite declining drug costs, researchers found.
According to the study:
• The spread margin on generic drugs represented 29% of Michigan's managed-care costs in 2017, up from 6% the previous year.
• Medicaid’s generic-drug costs increased 7% between the first quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2018, despite a 22% decline in the average cost of drug acquisition and a 28% drop in pharmacy reimbursements.
“Just like Ohio found, just like Kentucky found, spread pricing is not just a newer phenomenon, it is a growing phenomenon,” said Antonio Ciaccia, co-founder of 3 Axis Advisors, which conducted the analysis.
Lol at that headline though, as if the state of Michigan is the cause of all of Ohio’s problems.
Mother Jones: They Worked in Sweltering Heat for Exxon, Shell, and Walmart. They Didn’t Get Paid a Dime. By Amy Julia Harris and Shoshana Walter
This story was originally published by Reveal and is shared here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
A nationally renowned drug rehab program in Texas and Louisiana has sent patients struggling with addiction to work for free for some of the biggest companies in America, likely in violation of federal labor law.
The Cenikor Foundation has dispatched tens of thousands of patients to work without pay at more than 300 for-profit companies over the years. In the name of rehabilitation, patients have moved boxes in a sweltering warehouse for Walmart, built an oil platform for Shell and worked at an Exxon refinery along the Mississippi River.
“It’s like the closest thing to slavery,” said Logan Tullier, a former Cenikor participant who worked 10 hours per day at oil refineries, laying steel rebar in 115-degree heat. “We were making them all the money.”
The Root: Former Minneapolis Cop Found Guilty of Murder in Death of Australian Native Justine Damond by Dana Sharif
A jury on Tuesday convicted a now former Minneapolis police officer of murder for shooting and killing a woman after responding to a 911 call she made to report a possible sexual assault.
Mohamed Noor, who was the city of Minneapolis’ first police officer from its growing Somali American community, faces up to 16 years in prison after a jury took 11 hours to find Noor guilty of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the July 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond, the Minnesota Star-Tribune reports.
The jury acquitted him of a more serious second-degree murder charge. Sentencing is set for June 7.
After the verdict, both the police chief, Medaria Arradondo, and the police union offered their “apologies” and “condolences” to Damond’s family.
Why am I not surprised by the verdict in this case?
Reuters: Trade war and sagging prices push U.S. family farmers to leave the field by P.J. Huffstutter
BEATTIE, KANSAS (Reuters) - Shuffling across his frozen fields, farmer Jim Taphorn hunched his shoulders against the wind and squinted at the auctioneer standing next to his tractors.After a fifth harvest with low grain prices, made worse last fall by the U.S.-China trade war, the 68-year-old and his family were calling it quits. Farming also was taking a physical toll on him, he said; he’d suffered a heart attack 15 months before.
It took less than four hours to sell off all the tractors, combines and other farm equipment at the Taphorn retirement sale, ending a family tradition that had survived nearly a century.
“We went through the bad times in the ‘70s and ‘80s,” said Jim, 68, broad-shouldered and stocky. “In some ways, this is worse.”
Across the Midwest, growing numbers of grain farmers are choosing to shed their machinery and find renters for their land, all to stem the financial strain on their families, a dozen leading farm-equipment auction houses told Reuters. As these older grain farmers are retiring, fewer younger people are lining up to replace them.
Washington Post: Trump wants to remake the Fed. Moore’s imperiled nomination shows it won’t be easy. By Heather Long and Josh Dawsey
President Trump’s effort to reshape the Federal Reserve and accelerate economic growth hit a setback Tuesday as multiple Republican senators criticized or outright rejected the president’s plans to nominate political supporter Stephen Moore.
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said she was “very unlikely” to vote for Moore. Several others raised big questions about his potential nomination, including Trump ally Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), who called Moore a “problematic” nominee.
Ernst said she didn’t think Moore would be confirmed, adding that “several” senators agree with her on Moore’s unsuitability for one of the nation’s top positions steering the economy. A simple majority is needed to confirm Moore to the Fed board, but with Democrats controlling 47 Senate seats, he can lose precious few Republicans.
At least seven GOP senators have taken issue with Moore’s provocative past columns and statements that have come to light since his name began to circulate publicly as a potential Fed nominee in March.
Reuters: Venezuela's Guaido calls for uprising but military loyal to Maduro for now by Vivian Sequera, Angus Berwick and Luc Cohen
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Tuesday made his strongest call yet to the military to help him oust President Nicolas Maduro but there were no concrete signs of defection from the armed forces leadership.
Early on Tuesday, several dozen armed troops accompanying Guaido clashed with soldiers supporting Maduro at a rally in Caracas, and large anti-government protests in the streets turned violent. But by Tuesday afternoon an uneasy peace had returned and there was no indication that the opposition planned to take power through military force.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told CNN that “as we understand it” Maduro had been ready to depart for socialist ally Cuba, but had been persuaded to stay by Russia, which has also been a steadfast supporter.
In a message posted on his social media accounts on Tuesday evening, Guaido told supporters to take to the streets once again on Wednesday. He reiterated his call for the armed forces to take his side, and said Maduro did not have the military’s support.
El País: Post-election Spain: Don’t expect governing deals anytime soon by Carlos E. Cué
The formation of a new government in Spain is going to depend on a long arm-wrestle between the Socialist Party (PSOE), the winner of Sunday’s general election, and the leftist Unidas Podemos, which came in fourth place.
There is a lot at stake for both of its leaders. Pedro Sánchez is ecstatic about a victory that puts the PSOE back in the lead after losing the last three elections. The win will probably allow him to remain in office, where he arrived in June of last year after leading a successful no-confidence vote against Mariano Rajoy of the Popular Party (PP).
Sánchez wants to try to lead a minority government all by himself on the strength of his 123 seats in Congress. But this is not enough to get himself reinstated – it takes 176 deputies for an overall majority – and Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias has clearly stated that this time he is not ready to provide free support for Sánchez as he did after the no-confidence motion.
AlJazeera: 'Incredibly difficult' to reach Mozambique cyclone survivors
Torrential rain continued to batter northern Mozambique on Tuesday, several days after Cyclone Kenneth, as the United Nations said aid workers faced "an incredibly difficult situation" in reaching thousands of survivors.
The rains grounded aid operations for a third consecutive day leaving some of the worst-hit communities cut off with very limited supplies.
A planned World Food Programme (WFP) flight to the island of Ibo was on standby until the weather improved, according to Deborah Nguyen, spokeswoman for the agency.
"We are really concerned about the situation for people on Ibo island," she said, as they had been left out in the open after the majority of homes were destroyed, and with very limited food.
DW: Julian Assange faces extradition hearing as Berlin stays quiet by Seda Serdar and Ana Maria Rouda
This Thursday, Julian Assange will appear before a British judge in an initial hearing on his possible, and controversial, extradition to the US.
Following the WikiLeaks founder's expulsion from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on April 11 and subsequent arrest, Ecuador's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Jaime Marchan, revealed to DW how the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) had petitioned embassy officials for information on Assange and his activities.
In January, several Ecuadorian diplomats testified in London, Marchan said, "but not here in the Embassy because we don't have enough security here, and the questions would have been heard by our then neighbor (Assange)." The ambassador told DW that the interviews took place at Pro Ecuador, a commercial office managed by the Ecuadorian government to promote trade with the UK.
Ecuador's Attorney General's office "received the questions from the Department of Justice of the United States to be asked, through the Ecuadorian judicial system," Marchan said.
The cooperation between Ecuador and the DOJ suggests the US has been working quietly at the highest levels to strengthen its case for Assange's extradition.
Hollywood Reporter: Critic's Notebook: John Singleton Changed How Black America Looked at Itself by Elsa Nefertari Ulen
John Singleton had an incredible impact on American culture — on black folk, but on white people, too. Singleton is, of course, the Oscar-nominated director of 1991’s Boyz N the Hood, and Boyz is one of the films that changed, as we say, e'rythang.
It is no hyperbole to note that there was life after Boyz N the Hood, meaning of course that there was a different way of being before it. Before 1991, there was no Twitter. The # was a pound sign, not a hashtag. There was no Facebook. But there was Black Planet — not BlackPlanet.com, the social networking site that predated Facebook by two years, but Fear of a Black Planet, the Public Enemy album title that articulated the attitude of a whole generation of white folk still stunned that some kids Straight Outta Compton dared to say “Fuck the Police” on wax. (Yup, before 1991, there was wax.)
That white folk were still salty about NWA in 1991 was weird since by early 1991 the Rodney King beating had been captured and released on video. But the Rodney King riots didn’t take place in Simi Valley, or any other white community for that matter. Yes, in 1991 people generally stayed on their own segregated side of town, and we weren’t zipping across the country from Right Coast to Left Coast and back East again to the same degree that we do today.
And cable news most definitely wasn’t reporting daily, live from the hood.
Popular Science: Inside the global fight over a 2,500-ton heap of garbage by Kat Eschner
Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines, made global headlines last week when he threatened to “declare war” on Canada over some 2,500 tons of trash shipped to Manila in 2013 and 2014. The 103 shipping containers of imported garbage, which came courtesy of a private Canadian business, were labeled as mixed plastic recyclables. But they concealed an unsorted mix of electronic and household waste, including adult diapers.
Authorities buried 26 containers in a nearby landfill, but the rest of the refuse still languishes in the harbor as the countries feud over who should take out the trash. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is now saying that a 2016 legal ruling means Canada could, theoretically, reclaim the privately-owned garbage—which is what Duterte wants. In a statement last week, the Canadian government said that it is “strongly committed to collaborating with the government of the Philippines to resolve this issue,” but officials have yet to take action.
“This incident in the Philippines… should raise a lot of eyebrows,” says Myra Hird, an environmental sociologist at Queen’s University who leads a research program on Canada’s garbage. But that’s not because of the trash itself, she says: it’s what the trash represents. Canada “is absolutely in a waste crisis,” she says. This contentious pile of garbage is just a small fraction of what the country produces in a day.
Don’t forget that Meteor Blades is hosting an open thread for night owls tonight.
Everyone have a great evening!