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Overnight News Digest September 19, 2023 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-09-19

Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, 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. My apologies for not posting an OND last Tuesday as I had a medical emergency. Feeling much better.

Chicago Sun-Times: Mayor Johnson OKs compromise giving restaurants 5 years to phase in higher pay for tipped workers by Fran Spielman

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday signed off on a compromise that would deliver on his campaign promise to eliminate the “subminimum wage” for tipped workers while appeasing Chicago restaurants by giving them five years to swallow the 66% increase in labor costs. It calls for tipped workers — currently paid 60% of Chicago’s minimum wage — to receive 8% annual increases beginning on July 1, 2024, until they reach 100% parity on July 1, 2028. A substitute ordinance including the five-year phase-in is scheduled for a vote at Wednesday’s meeting of the City Council’s Committee on Workforce Development. The agreement was reached after Johnson and his City Council allies shot down the Illinois Restaurant Association’s eleventh-hour proposal to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers to $20.54 an hour, but only at restaurants with more than $3 million in annual revenue.

The New York Times: Right-Wing House Republicans Derail Pentagon G.O.P. Bill, Rebuking McCarthy by Carl Hulse

Deep Republican divisions erupted onto the House floor on Tuesday as a handful of far-right conservatives blocked a Pentagon spending bill from coming up for debate, dealing an embarrassing setback to Speaker Kevin McCarthy as he struggled to round up votes to prevent a government shutdown in less than two weeks. In a development rarely seen in the House, five Republicans broke with their own party and refused to allow the usually broadly bipartisan military funding measure to be considered, registering their objections to Mr. McCarthy’s strategy in an escalating fight over federal spending. It left the chamber paralyzed for the moment, with little time before a Sept. 30 deadline to avert a government closure. The stunning setback sent Mr. McCarthy and his lieutenants scrambling for a way forward both on their yearlong spending bills and a temporary funding bill that had already run into a buzz saw of opposition from the far right as the speaker faced fresh threats of an ouster from detractors in his own party. Even if it could make it through the House, the temporary spending measure stood little chance in the Democratic-led Senate, where its combination of deep spending cuts and stringent border policies was seen as a nonstarter.

Detroit Free Press: UAW, Detroit 3 talks 'active' on Day 5 of strike; Toledo supplier workers get strike pay by Eric D. Lawrence

The UAW planned to rally at Stellantis’ U.S. headquarters in Auburn Hills at 4 p.m. Wednesday as contract talks with the Detroit Three automakers continued with no indication of a breakthrough. However, talks were said to be ongoing and very active between the companies and union according to a source familiar with the situation who wasn't authorized to discuss it. Autoworkers have been picketing outside Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis plants in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio, respectively, since union leaders called for a strike last week. Tuesday marked the fifth day of the historic “Stand-Up Strike,” which involves targeting all three auto companies at once.

The Washington Post: Homeland Security outlines plan to stop fentanyl, precursor chemicals by Nick Miroff

Homeland Security officials on Tuesday announced a plan to increase fentanyl seizures and break up the supply chains and financial networks fueling the most lethal drug crisis in U.S. history. Officials said the department’s investigative unit, Homeland Security Investigations, will assign more agents to track shipments of precursor chemicals, primarily originating in China, used to manufacture the powerful synthetic opioid. The agency will expand its presence in Mexico, where the drug cartels who dominate the fentanyl trade operate, and deploy more investigators to the U.S.-Mexico border, where the volume of fentanyl pills and powder flowing into the United States has boomed. More than 100,000 Americans are dying of illegal drug overdoses per year, an all-time high, putting federal law enforcement agencies under intense public pressure to boost seizures and arrests.

USA Today: Convicted murderer Alex Murdaugh agrees to plead guilty to nearly two dozen federal crimes by N’dea Yancey Bragg and Michael M. DeWitt, Jr.

BBC News: Ukraine war: Russian 'evil cannot be trusted', Zelensky tells UN by James Landale and Jaroslav Lukiv

"Evil cannot be trusted," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has told the UN General Assembly, as he urged the world to unite to end Russian aggression against his country. In a passionate speech in New York, Mr Zelensky said a nuclear-armed Moscow must be stopped from "pushing the world to the final war". He also accused Russia of weaponising everything from food to energy. Russia's full-scale invasion has prompted widespread condemnation. In a speech which focused heavily on the danger Russia poses to the world, he argued that other common challenges such as climate change can only be properly addressed after Moscow had been pushed back. "While Russia is pushing the world to the final war, Ukraine is doing everything to ensure that after the Russian aggression no-one in the world will dare to attack any nation," Mr Zelensky said to world leaders attending the annual General Assembly.

AlJazeera: Indian gov’t presents bill to reserve a third of parliament seats for women Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has moved a bill to reserve one-third of seats in the lower house of parliament and state legislative assemblies for women. The contentious legislative proposal has been hanging for decades due to opposition from some heartland political parties and needs the approval of both houses of parliament and a majority of state legislatures to become law. Its revival on Tuesday comes months before general elections are due by May 2024, when Modi is seeking a third term. Analysts say the chances of the bill getting passed in parliament have brightened as opposition to it has shrunk over the years. “This is a historic moment, this is a moment of pride for us. For many years there have been a lot of discussions about the Women’s Reservation Bill after it was first introduced in 1996,” Modi said in parliament on Tuesday before Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal presented the bill to legislators. Guardian: UK could become an ‘EU lite’ member of bloc, suggests Franco-German report by Lisa O’Carroll

A vision of a future EU with four types of membership – including an “EU lite” for countries such as the UK – has been tabled by a group of academics commissioned by France and Germany to consider future reforms. The proposal comes as the UK’s opposition leader, Keir Starmer, told France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, that he wanted to build an “even stronger” relationship between the two countries if he wins power at a national election pencilled in for next year. With the Ukraine war accelerating the appetite for enlargement, the EU leadership has acknowledged the urgent need to start thinking about the shape of the bloc, which could increase from 27 members to as many as 36 countries. A report presented by France and Germany on Tuesday called on EU institutions to pass a raft of reforms to be ready by 2030 to accept new members such as Ukraine.

The Hollywood Reporter: Vanna White Extends ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Tenure Through 2025-26 by Rick Porter

Vanna White will remain with Wheel of Fortune as the show enters a new era. White has signed a two-year contract extension to continue as co-host of the syndicated game show through the 2025-26 season. That will take her two years into the hosting tenure of Ryan Seacrest, who will take over for longtime host Pat Sajak in fall 2024. Sajak announced in June that he would retire as Wheel of Fortune’s host — a position he’s held for four decades — at the end of the 2023-24 season. Sony Pictures TV, which produces the game show, named Seacrest as his replacement soon thereafter, but White’s status remained up in the air until now.

Everyone have the best possible evening!

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