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, jck, 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 Tribune: Midwestern cities continue to lose population. Two of the fastest-shrinking are in Illinois. By Patrick M. O’Connell
Two Illinois cities, Rockford and Decatur, are among the fastest-shrinking cities in the country, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates, part of an ongoing trend of Midwestern cities losing residents while cities across the Southwest and West continue to grow.
Decatur, in central Illinois about 40 miles east of Springfield, has lost 7.1% of its population since the 2010 census, according to the recently released 2019 population estimates. That drop is the third-largest percentage loss in the U.S. among cities with a population of 50,000 or more. Rockford comes in at No. 15 on that list. The northern Illinois city, the fifth-largest in the state with an estimated 145,609 residents, has lost 5% of its population during that nine-year period.
Rockford’s total population loss of 7,676 people over the last decade places it ninth nationwide among large cities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, with Decatur (-5,385) at No. 15. Four of the five cities that have lost the most people since the last census are in the Midwest. Detroit has lost the most people, about 43,000, since 2010, followed by Baltimore, St. Louis, Cleveland and Toledo, Ohio.
Chicago, meanwhile, remains the third-largest city in the country, behind Los Angeles and in front of Houston. The gap between Chicago (2.7 million) and Houston (2.3 million) continues to shrink, though the difference remains sizable.
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: Republican leaders secretly recorded by Gov. Tony Evers' staff, infuriating GOP lawmakers by Patrick Marley and Molly Beck
MADISON - Republican legislative leaders lashed out Wednesday at Democratic Gov. Tony Evers after his staff secretly recorded a May 14 phone conversation over how to respond to the coronavirus pandemic the day after the state Supreme Court struck down the state's stay-at-home order.
The recording and the reaction to it all but ensures a permanently broken relationship between Evers and Republicans who control the Legislature. The two sides have rarely gotten along since Evers was elected in 2018 and Wednesday's episode was characterized by GOP leaders as unprecedented.
Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau called the recording "Nixonesque." Assembly Speaker Robin Vos called it "shameful."
Evers' spokeswoman, Melissa Baldauff, said the governor was not aware of the recording and instructed his staff not to do it again.
"This conversation was supposed to be about a potential path forward on a statewide approach to the COVID-19 crisis in our state following the Republican lawsuit to overturn the Safer At Home order," Baldauff said in a statement. "The recording was intended for internal use only to inform detailed note taking and planning next steps. This was not intended for release to the media or anyone else, however, we were obligated to comply with the open records law to release these records once they were requested."
NOLA.com: Use of coronavirus masks, answers to contact tracers alarmingly low, Louisiana leaders say by Sam Karlin
Louisiana residents are wearing masks and that more need to pick up calls from contact tracers, as the state sees what Gov. John Bel Edwards described as concerning trends in three regions.
Dr. Alex Billioux, assistant secretary for the state’s Office of Public Health, said health leaders across the state taken note of how many people in their communities are wearing masks, which the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommends as a way to prevent people from spreading the highly-contagious coronavirus to others.
“What we hear over and over again is really inconsistent mask-wearing, if not worse,” Billioux said.
Edwards, in his stay-at-home order that ended in May and in the phased reopening that has taken place since, has not mandated people wear masks, unless they are an employee who interacts with the public. Instead, officials have strongly urged the public to wear a mask.
Billioux said in New Orleans, where he lives, it appears more are wearing masks than in other parts of the state.
Sacramento Bee: Sacramento coronavirus cases are spiking — and family home gatherings are a key cause by Tony Bizjak, Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks, Philip Reese, and Michael McGough
Sacramento County has seen a notable rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in the last two weeks, prompting state officials on Tuesday to say they will step in to work with Sacramento and several other counties in an effort to tamp down the resurgence.
Speaking to The Sacramento Bee on Tuesday, Sacramento County health officer Dr. Olivia Kasirye said her contact tracing team is noting increased cases after families have gathered in homes in violation of the state and county health orders, which still say people should not be gathering in groups inside homes.
Kasirye said it appears that the recent reopenings of restaurants, stores, barbers and hair salons may have convinced people that the virus risk has gone away.
Another round of reopenings is scheduled for Friday, this time including bars, movie theaters and camp grounds. The Sacramento Zoo is scheduled to open Monday.
“We have found as businesses begin to open up, for some people there was a sense that things are OK now, and they began having gatherings in the home and birthday parties,” Kasirye said. “That is most of the exposure. They are multi-generational. They have people with higher risk.
Sacramento Bee: Black entrepreneurs toured an upscale California neighborhood. False claims spread online by Sawsan Morrar
Fear and concern spread in El Dorado Hills as rumors circulated that protesters were heading toward the suburbs as demonstrators protested the killing of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody.
One of the rumors stemmed from a photo which went viral throughout El Dorado Hills and Folsom, claiming that carloads of rioters were on their way into neighborhoods. The incident prompted residents to call law enforcement, and the photo caught the attention of a congressional candidate.
“This is not a joke,” read the Facebook post. “They are currently in my nieces neighborhood. Where are all my Second Amendment Peeps at?? May need to call on you today.”
Governor Charlie Baker is preparing legislation that would establish a statewide certification process for police officers, giving a proposal that’s languished on Beacon Hill a major boost as demands grow louder for more police accountability in Massachusetts and around the country.
The state is one of only a handful without a certification system for police, even as it’s created a complex system licensing barbers, electricians, and more than 50 other trades and professions.
Baker is expected to release details of the plan as early as next week, building off the recommendations of a working group he quietly created last year to study the issue, according to those involved in the process. It comes as House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo committed late Wednesday to wide-ranging legislation that, among other things, would abolish the police’s use of chokeholds and create an independent office to “ensure” enhanced training and police certification.
Buzzfeed: New York's Latest Coronavirus Sex Advice Basically Encourages Glory Holes And Zoom Orgies by David Mack
Remember back in mid-March, right as the coronavirus pandemic was taking off in the United States, New York City officials issued some helpful advice on sex practices during the outbreak?
The guide, issued by the New York City Health Department, advised residents on "how to enjoy sex and avoid spreading COVID-19" by essentially sticking to masturbation and only having sex with people in your household, meaning your partner or consenting roommate (if that's the deal you have with them — not wise, IMHO!!!).
Well, get ready, you horny quarantinos, because the good folks at the health department are back, and they are feeling KINKY.
On Monday, the city updated its advisory, and among its new recommendations are masks, glory holes, and Zoom orgies.
"Wear a face covering or mask," advised health officials. "Maybe it’s your thing, maybe it’s not, but during COVID-19 wearing a face covering that covers your nose and mouth is a good way to add a layer of protection during sex. Heavy breathing and panting can spread the virus further, and if you or your partner have COVID-19 and don’t know it, a mask can help stop that spread."
Moving right along...(but just think...if we’d heeded Dr. Joycelyn Elders advice in the first place, this would largely be an unnecessary conversation)
Roll Call: Senate Armed Services on collision course with Trump over Confederate names by Niels Lesniewski
The Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday voted to require the Pentagon to rename military bases and other assets named after Confederate generals, a move that puts the Republican-led panel on a collision course with the White House.
The committee adopted an amendment to the annual Pentagon policy bill that gives the Defense Department three years to remove the names of Confederate generals from U.S. military assets, according to a source familiar with the closed-door proceedings.
The language, adopted by voice vote as President Donald Trump preemptively threatened to veto any defense bill that did just that, affects massive bases like Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia. But it also goes further and includes everything from ships to streets on Defense Department property.
Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren offered the provision, which she previewed on Twitter.
Yes, I did read the story at the link posted on the tweet.
New York magazine: How Reliable Are COVID-19 Tests? by James D. Walsh
In late April, Justin Gilmore started feeling a little sluggish. When he mentioned his fatigue to his wife, she pointed out that he hadn’t been eating much lately. Gilmore and his family had been vigilant about isolating themselves in their small Philadelphia row house since early March, weeks before Pennsylvania governor Tom Wolf issued a stay-at-home order. Still, Gilmore worried he might have caught the virus on a rare trip to the grocery store, a fear that worsened when he developed a fever and a dry cough.
On May 2, Gilmore’s physician wrote him a prescription to get tested at a drive-through clinic, where a health-care worker stuck a long swab down his throat. The next day, a representative called with the result: negative.
I wasn’t relieved because I knew it was inaccurate,” said Gilmore, a 42-year-old high-school tennis coach, music producer, and resident magician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “The representative hit me immediately with a disclaimer, ‘We do have to mention that there are some false negatives, so you may still have this and may want to get retested down the road a bit.’” By that point, Gilmore had developed chills and a fever that was peaking at 103 degrees.
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday projected that the U.S. economy will contract by 6.5 percent this year, a grim outlook that could even prove optimistic if there is another coronavirus outbreak.
Fed policymakers — who signaled they intend to hold interest rates to near zero through at least 2022 — forecast that the unemployment rate will only drop to 9.3 percent by the end of 2020, down from 13.3 percent in May, a number that the Labor Department itself has said understates current joblessness.
The central bank’s predictions underscore the daunting task that President Donald Trump faces in trying to bring the country out of recession as he fights for reelection. As recently as February, just before the lockdowns began, the president was touting an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent, its lowest reading since the 1960s.
“This is the biggest economic shock, in the U.S. and in the world, really, in living memory,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference after central bank officials met in Washington. ”We went from the lowest level of unemployment in 50 years to the highest level in close to 90 years, and we did it in two months.”
Guardian: 'Make it stop': George Floyd's brother calls on Congress to act over police violence by Lauren Ganbino
Hours after George Floyd was laid to rest in Houston, his younger brother made an impassioned plea to Congress to prevent his death from becoming just “another name” on an ever-growing list of black Americans killed by police.
Philonise Floyd testified before a House hearing in Washington on Wednesday amid a national reckoning over race and policing that has drawn millions to the street in protest and cries for action to be taken in every institution of American life, including government, military, media and entertainment, sports, academia, business, science and tech.
“I’m tired. I’m tired of the pain I’m feeling now, and I’m tired of the pain I feel every time another Black person is killed for no reason,” he said, his voice rising with emotion as he addressed the committee. “I’m here today to ask you to make it stop. Stop the pain.”
The room fell silent as he testified, gripped by the rawness of his grief. Many wore masks while some attended the hearing virtually because of the coronavirus pandemic.
BBC News: Tokyo 2020: Olympics will be 'simplified' in 2021
Tokyo 2020 will be a "simplified" Olympics, according to the chief executive of the organising committee.
The Games, scheduled to start in July, were postponed for a year in March because of fears over the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tokyo 2020 chief executive Toshiro Muto added that the Olympics will "not be done with grand splendour".
Organisers said that they are working on more than 200 ideas to simplify and reduce costs for the rescheduled Games.
Muto, speaking at a news conference, also revealed that the organisers had not ruled out reducing the number of fans, although the competition schedule remained unchanged for now.
Meanwhile, Yoshiro Mori, the president of Tokyo 2020, refused to discuss the possibility of cancelling the Games altogether.
Reuters: Latin America hits 70,000 pandemic deaths, daily record in Mexico
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Latin America’s coronavirus crisis reached a grim new milestone on Wednesday with total deaths exceeding 70,000, according to a Reuters count, as Mexico hit a daily record for confirmed infections.
Brazil, with the largest economy in the region, remains Latin America’s most affected country as total fatalities are just shy of 40,000, the world’s third highest death toll after the United States and Britain.
In the region’s second biggest country Mexico, a new daily record of 4,883 confirmed cases was reported by the health ministry, along with 708 additional fatalities.
The daily totals bring Mexico’s overall official count to 129,184 infections and 15,357 deaths.
The World Health Organization has determined that Latin America is the new hotspot for the pandemic, which began around the beginning of the year in China and quickly spread to Europe and beyond.
South China Morning Post: Major changes in disease control at coronavirus ground zero in China by Sarah Zheng and Zhuang Pinghui
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hubei will overhaul the provincial disease control agency to address failures exposed by
the coronavirus pandemic.
.
Provincial Communist Party secretary Ying Yong said on Wednesday that changes needed to be made to Hubei’s disease control and prevention centre (CDC), including defining clear roles and divisions of labour for the institution.
He said the head of the Hubei CDC would also be given a senior role within the provincial government’s health commission, to “strengthen the administrative functions of the CDC”.
Other changes include raising salaries for CDC employees, improving expertise and strengthening early warning systems.
The overhaul is one of a series of public health reforms in the aftermath of the pandemic, which first erupted in Hubei. The province has reported more than 68,000 cases of the coronavirus, the bulk of which were in the capital city of Wuhan.
DW: Brexit: EU accuses UK of trying to maintain economic benefits amid coronavirus recession
The European Union accused the United Kingdom Wednesday of seeking to maintain a relationship with the bloc similar to that of an EU member after Brexit. The EU said they found this idea unacceptable.
"Britain is demanding a lot more from the EU than Canada, Japan or other partners," the EU's chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier told a forum in Brussels. "We cannot and we will not allow this cherry picking."
He also said that the UK "cannot have the best of both worlds" and stressed the point that "we will never compromise on our European values or on our economic and trade interests to the benefit of the British economy."
"In many areas it is looking to maintain the benefits of being a member state without the constraints," Barnier said. "It is looking to pick and choose the most attractive elements of the [EU] single market without the obligations."
AlJazeera: Turkey dismisses Egypt ceasefire offer as attempt to save Haftar
Turkey has dismissed Egypt's proposal for a ceasefire in Libya, saying the plan aimed to save renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar after the collapse of his 14-month military push to seize the capital.
Ankara supports Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj's internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA), whose forces have in recent weeks repelled the assault on Tripoli by Haftar's self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), backed by the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Russia.
Egypt called for a ceasefire starting on Monday, as part of an initiative that also proposed an elected leadership council for Libya. Russia and the UAE welcomed the plan, while Germany said United Nations-backed talks were key to the peace process.
However, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday dismissed the proposal as an attempt to save Haftar following the losses he suffered on the battlefield.
Guardian: 'My husband’s password is his ex-girlfriend's name. I am devastated. What made him change it?' By Eleanor Gordon-Smith
My husband’s password is his ex-girlfriend’s name for almost every account, and I am devastated. After a few months of our marriage, I came to know about his past relationship. In the first two years of our marriage we had a lot of fights about his ex, but things eventually settled down when she got married. Good riddance, I thought.
We’ve been married for almost six years and recently I came to know his password is her name. It was a shock. When I confronted him, he threatened to abandon me and take some other woman. I retreated. But I am heartbroken and burning from inside. What made him change his passwords to her name when initially they were different?
Don’t forget that Meteor Blades is hosting a Wednesday night owls thread tonight.
Everyone have a good evening!
And I will see you this coming Saturday for...science, right?