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Overnight News Digest: Wednesday, March 5, 2025 [1]

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

Date: 2025-03-05

The crew of the Overnight News Digest consists of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, jeremybloom, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, doomandgloom, FarWestGirl, Besame, and jck. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Rise above the swamp, 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 since 2007, 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.

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From SciTechDaily: Unexpected Benefit: Popular Weight Loss Drug Ozempic Could Also Help You Drink Less Semaglutide may help reduce alcohol cravings and intake, according to a clinical trial. Participants receiving the drug drank less and had fewer heavy drinking days than those on a placebo. Semaglutide, a widely used medication known as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for obesity, may also help reduce alcohol intake, according to new research. The study was led by Christian Hendershot, PhD, a professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of Clinical Research at the USC Institute for Addiction Science, along with Klara Klein, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the UNC School of Medicine. ***

From The Guardian:

US supreme court weakens rules on discharge of raw sewage into water supplies

The US supreme court has weakened rules on the discharge of raw sewage into water supplies in a 5-4 ruling that undermines the 1972 Clean Water Act. The CWA is the principle law governing pollution control and water quality of the nation’s waterways. The Republican super majority court ruled on Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cannot employ generic, water body-focused pollution discharge limits to Clean Water Act permit holders, and must provide specific limitations to pollution permittees. The ruling is a win for San Francisco, which challenged nonspecific, or “narrative,” wastewater permits that the EPA issues to protect the quality of surface water sources like rivers and streams relied upon for drinking water. ***

From The Guardian:

California charges 30 officers over ‘gladiator fights’ at juvenile facility

Thirty officers at a southern California juvenile detention facility have been charged for their role in facilitating so-called “gladiator fights” between youth in their care, the state’s attorney general said on Monday. A grand jury indictment alleges the officers at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles county allowed and sometimes encouraged nearly 70 fights to take place between July 2023 and December 2023. More than 140 victims between the ages of 12 and 18 were involved. "We believe that this was planned, it was intended,” the attorney general, Rob Bonta, said. “They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day, in a certain time, in a certain place, a space and a time was created for the fights, and the plan was for the fights to happen.” The officers face charges including child endangerment and abuse, conspiracy and battery. ***

I do check out other sources but The Guardian has the kind of stories I like, odd quirky stories like woolly mice, international news, and reports of official corruption.

Also from The Guardian:

Scientists aiming to bring back woolly mammoth create woolly mice

Genetically modified mice have traits geared towards cold tolerance, in step towards modifying elephants. A plan to revive the mammoth is on track, scientists have said after creating a new species: the woolly mouse. Scientists at the US biotechnology company Colossal Biosciences plan to “de-extinct” the prehistoric pachyderms by genetically modifying Asian elephants to give them woolly mammoth traits. They hope the first calf will be born by the end of 2028. Ben Lamm, co-founder and chief executive of Colossal, said the team had been studying ancient mammoth genomes and comparing them with those of Asian elephants to understand how they differ and had already begun genome-editing cells of the latter. Now the team say they have fresh support for their approach after creating healthy, genetically modified mice that have traits geared towards cold tolerance, including woolly hair. “It does not accelerate anything but it’s a massive validating point,” Lamm said. ***

You really need to click on the link to see the woolly mice. They are absolutely adorable. They can make money selling the mice.

Bad news from SciTechDaily:

New Research Exposes Shocking Health Risks of Chemicals Found in Popular Everyday Products

Everyday products contain unregulated toxic chemicals. For years, the scientific community has assumed that polymers—large molecules—are too big to migrate from products into the human body and therefore pose no health risks. As a result, polymers have largely remained unregulated and are exempt from major toxic substance laws, such as the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act and the E.U.’s REACH regulation. However, a groundbreaking peer-reviewed study published in Nature Sustainability reveals that certain polymers used as flame retardants can degrade into smaller, harmful chemicals. ***

From the Associated Press:

As warming climate hammers coffee crops, this rare bean may someday be your brew

NZARA COUNTY, South Sudan (AP) — Catherine Bashiama runs her fingers along the branches of the coffee tree she’s raised from a seedling, searching anxiously for its first fruit buds since she planted it three years ago. When she grasps the small cherries, Bashiama beams. The farmer had never grown coffee in her village in western South Sudan, but now hopes a rare, climate-resistant species will help pull her family from poverty. “I want to send my children to school so they can be the future generation,” said Bashiama, a mother of 12. Discovered more than a century ago in South Sudan, excelsa coffee is exciting cash-strapped locals and drawing interest from the international community amid a global coffee crisis caused mainly by climate change. As leading coffee-producing countries struggle to grow crops in drier, less reliable weather, prices have soared to the highest in decades and the industry is scrambling for solutions. ***

It's nice to end with some good news. Arabica and Robusta coffee trees struggle in hot weather, so the news that there is a hot weather alternative is heartening.

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