The Overnight News Digest is a nightly series chronicling the eschaton and the fall of the Republic.
Los Angeles Times
California declares coronavirus emergency
Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus after a California man died after falling ill with the virus while on a cruise ship.
Officials are trying to locate hundreds of other Californians who disembarked from the Grand Princess ship in San Francisco last month after a trip to Mexico. Officials want to determine whether they also might have contracted the virus.
That same ship, after a subsequent trip to Hawaii, canceled its stop in Baja California and was scheduled to return early to San Francisco on Wednesday, but it was being held off the coast so public health officials could screen everyone onboard, the governor said.
The virus has now been reported in 12 counties in the state and has sickened more than 50 people.
Biden and Sanders both would face stark challenges running against Trump
If there is one thing essential for Democrats as they look toward taking on … Trump in November, it is a nominee who can drive strong, perhaps historic, turnout, either by reassembling the coalition that twice elected Barack Obama or by mobilizing masses of new voters.
Yet the party is now barreling toward its nominating convention with the race mostly whittled down to two candidates in their late 70s who both have big weaknesses in reaching beyond their respective bases.
Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden will face a crucial test in the remaining states in the Democratic primary, where both will have to recalibrate and — to some extent rebrand — to broaden their appeal and unify a fractured party. It is a tall order for two men who are products of an earlier generation of politics.
The Oregonian
Uncertainty about coronavirus in Oregon pushes some with chronic illnesses to stay home
[…] Oregon public health officials say much remains unknown about coronavirus, also called COVID-19. Officials believe the virus may be widespread and estimate that 300 to 500 Oregonians have or may have had it. Ten people have died from the illness in Washington, and an estimated 3000 have died worldwide since the virus was identified in December in China.
The risk of contracting the virus brings added uncertainty for people whose immune systems are already compromised, because they may be especially vulnerable. Many of the people from Washington who have died had underlying health conditions.
“From the early data we have, it appears that patients with compromised immune systems, particularly the elderly, are at higher risk for worse outcomes,” said Dr. Lynne Strasfeld, infectious diseases physician at OHSU.
The Seattle Times
University of Washington gets emergency green light to test for coronavirus
To combat the national shortage of diagnostic tests for the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) gave emergency authorization to the University of Washington to test patient specimens provided by physicians and health care providers, according to two UW scientists involved in developing the test and ensuring its accuracy.
The UW’s virology laboratory has the capacity to dramatically speed up the time it takes to determine if someone has the virus.
State Department of Health (DOH) officials had earlier acknowledged a problem with the federally approved testing kits initially supplied last month to state public health laboratories across the nation. Those problems stymied testing for — and recognition of — the virus’s spread in Washington.
Warren is reassessing. What’s next for backers in Washington as March 10 primary approaches?
Sen. Elizabeth Warren came to Seattle early and often, drawing more than 22,000 people at two public rallies in the city, according to her presidential campaign. She hired dozens of paid staff members in Washington, opening campaign offices here before any other presidential campaign. […]
For Warren, the future remains uncertain. She also didn’t win a single Super Tuesday primary, failing to finish better than third in any contest, including in her home state of Massachusetts. Warren’s campaign manager said Wednesday they were working to “assess the path forward.”
“She’s going to take time right now to think through the right way to continue this fight,” campaign manager Roger Lau wrote. “This decision is in her hands, and it’s important that she has the time and space to consider what comes next.” Sanders who, with Warren, made up the “progressive wing” of the major presidential candidates, said he spoke to Warren on Wednesday and said it was important to give her time to make a decision.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
An inside look at how Amy Klobuchar decided to exit the 2020 race
Amy Klobuchar stood in the shadow of Selma’s historic Brown Chapel AME Church. On a warm, sunny Sunday, just two days before Super Tuesday, she joined several Democratic rivals for a unity march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to commemorate Bloody Sunday, the 1965 civil rights march that turned violent when unarmed demonstrators were attacked.
With civil rights legend John Lewis speaking, she noticed former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg choking up just a few feet away. Both had finished out of the medals in the South Carolina primary the day before. She wondered what was going through his mind. There, in the calm of the Alabama chapel, the Minnesota Democrat had a rare moment to reflect on her own standing in the tumultuous race for the White House.
“I was in that church in Selma that morning, and I was thinking, what is better here?” she recalled in a televised interview this week. “What is better for the country?”
The answer, she decided, was becoming clear.
The Washington Post
Biden builds coalition that could boost Democrats in November
As Joe Biden racked up a string of unexpected victories in Super Tuesday primaries, he began to stitch together the kind of political coalition that had eluded his candidacy for months: a broad assembly of voters with the collective power to potentially defeat President Trump in November.
Biden’s strong showing among African Americans, suburbanites and moderate white voters — spanning geographical regions and drawing from a surge in turnout — boosted confidence among Democrats that the former vice president could soon win a Democratic race that voters have turned into a contest over which candidate is best positioned to beat Trump. […]
Roughly 1.3 million Virginia voters cast ballots, about 21 percent of the electorate, according to unofficial results. That’s up from the previous record of about 986,000 votes and 18 percent of the electorate in 2008, when Obama was challenging Hillary Clinton for the party’s nomination.
How coronavirus spread in New York: From a man to his family. Then a neighbor. Then friends.
First, a lawyer who commutes between the suburbs and his midtown Manhattan office was diagnosed with the coronavirus. Then, his wife and two children tested positive, along with a neighbor who drove him to the hospital.
By Wednesday afternoon, another friend, his wife and three of their children were also infected.
In the span of 48 hours, what began as one family’s medical crisis had spiraled well beyond their Westchester County home, shuttering Jewish schools and synagogues and crystallizing the virus’s power to propel anxiety across a region that is among the nation’s most densely populated.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued a rare rebuke of a sitting member of Congress on Wednesday, chastising the Senate’s top Democrat, Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, for saying at a rally outside the Supreme Court that President Trump’s two nominees to the court would “pay the price” for a vote against abortion rights.
In a highly unusual statement issued by the court, the chief justice recounted comments Schumer (N.Y.) had directed at Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh and said: “Justices know that criticism comes with the territory, but threatening statements of this sort from the highest levels of government are not only inappropriate, they are dangerous. All members of the court will continue to do their job, without fear or favor, from whatever quarter.”
Schumer, speaking to abortion rights supporters Wednesday morning as the Supreme Court heard arguments in an important abortion case from Louisiana, called out the two by name.
Bloomberg
China Deaths Top 3,000; California Calls Emergency: Virus Update
Deaths from the coronavirus surpassed 3,000 in China, though the first country hit by the disease also announced progress on discharging people after treatment. California called a state of emergency, underscoring the global spread of the disease.
The declaration in the most populous U.S. state followed passage in the House of Representatives of a $7.8 billion spending package to fund measures to combat the outbreak, showcasing a strengthening response in the world’s largest economy. In South Korea, cases have dropped three days in a row. Cases are climbing in the U.S. and Europe, and the first confirmed human-to-animal transmission of the coronavirus was reported in Hong Kong.
Tropical Forests Are Reaching Their Carbon Dioxide Limit
Humanity has pushed atmospheric carbon dioxide levels almost 50% higher than they were before industrialization. That dramatic number would be even higher without tropical forests, which have been absorbing as much as 17% of CO₂ emissions along the way. Unfortunately, rainforests can’t capture carbon like they used to.
In a new study using 30 years of data from pristine Amazon and African tropical forests, researchers found the actual rate CO₂-reduction rate peaked a quarter-century ago. These rainforests absorbed about a third less CO₂ over the past decade than they did the 1990s, according to the study published in the journal Nature. That’s a difference of 21 billion metric tons—or roughly similar to a decade of fossil-fuel emissions from the U.K., Canada, Germany, and France combined.
South American forests began their decline more quickly than their African counterparts, which showed slowing only around 2010. The Amazon, which is world’s largest tropical forest, may turn into a source of emissions by 2035 if it continues to lose the ability to store new carbon at its current rate. “We’ve always taken it for granted,” says Wannes Hubau, a researcher at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Belgium, “but now we see that it may not last.”
The Guardian
Iran triples stockpile of enriched uranium in breach of nuclear deal
Iran has nearly tripled its stockpile of enriched uranium since November in violation of its deal with world powers and is refusing to answer questions about three possible undeclared nuclear sites, the UN atomic watchdog agency has said.
The International Atomic Energy Agency made the statement in a confidential report distributed to member countries that was seen by the Associated Press.
The agency said that as of 19 February, Iran’s total stockpile of low-enriched uranium amounted to 1,021kg, compared with 372kg noted in its last report on 3 November 2019.
Bushfire crisis conditions eight times more likely under 2C warming, analysis shows
The hot and dry conditions that helped drive Australia’s bushfire crisis would be eight times more likely to happen if global heating reached 2C, according to new analysis.
An international team of scientists also found the risk of Australia being hit by intense fire weather had already risen since 1900 “by more than a factor of four”.
And the scientists said it was “scary” a country as well prepared for tackling bushfires as Australia had seen its systems “severely strained” by what the called the Black Summer Bushfires.
Russia committed war crimes in Syria, finds UN report
A UN investigation into atrocities committed in Syria has for the first time accused Russia of direct involvement in war crimes for indiscriminate bombing of civilian areas.
The latest report from the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria focuses on events of July 2019 to January this year, and in particular attacks by “pro-government forces” on civilian targets like medical facilities, driving 700,000 civilians from their homes.
The commission focused on two incidents in which it found substantial evidence that Russian aircraft were directly involved in the bombing of civilian areas. The panel has in the past suggested possible Russian responsibility for war crimes, but this is the first time it has found proof of Moscow’s culpability.
AP News
US defense leaders: Taliban peace deal results mixed
Just hours after the U.S. military launched an airstrike targeting Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, top defense leaders told Congress that the results of the peace deal signed on Saturday have been mixed, but the insurgent group is abiding by much of the accord.
The American airstrike was triggered by a spike in violence by the Taliban against members of the Afghan security forces. […]
Defense Secretary Mark Esper told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Taliban are honoring the agreement by not attacking U.S. and coalition forces, “but not in terms of sustaining the reduction in violence.” He added that, “keeping that group of people on board is a challenge. They’ve got their range of hard-liners and soft-liners and so they’re wrestling with that too, I think..”
EU commission unveils climate law amid criticism
Amid fierce criticism from environmental activists, the European Commission unveiled plans Wednesday for its first ever climate law, which will act as the basis of the European Union’s aim to make the 27-country bloc climate neutral by 2050.
Under its Green Deal agenda, the EU’s executive arm wants to legislate to make its ambition of cutting greenhouse gas emissions to zero by mid-century irreversible, and legally-binding for all member states.
“This climate law will set in stone Europe’s position as a climate leader on the global stage,” said European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen.
Vox
The Democratic Party’s risky bet on Biden
After Joe Biden’s big Super Tuesday wins, it’s obvious that he’s the Democratic frontrunner. And all of a sudden, Republicans are talking about Hunter Biden and Ukraine again — with Senate Homeland Security Chair Ron Johnson (R-WI) telling reporters on Wednesday that he plans to issue some kind of report on the matter in the coming months.
“These are questions that Joe Biden has not adequately answered,” Johnson said, per Politico. “And if I were a Democrat primary voter, I’d want these questions satisfactorily answered before I cast my final vote.”
The Democratic elite has unified around Biden largely on the grounds of electability, that he’s more likely than chief rival Bernie Sanders to beat Trump in the general election. But Johnson’s comments underscore that Biden might not be nearly as safe on that front as either Democratic officials or voters think. They’re risking setting themselves up for a fall campaign mired in scandal and innuendo — a 2020 version of “Her Emails” that plays right into Trump’s “drain the swamp” narrative.
Sanders can’t lead the Democrats if his campaign treats them like the enemy
Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders have been running very different kinds of campaigns, built on very different ambitions. Biden’s been running to lead the Democratic Party more or less as it exists today. Sanders, by contrast, has sought to lead a political revolution that will upend not just the Democratic Party but American politics more broadly.
On Super Tuesday, Sanders’s political revolution didn’t turn out, but the Democratic Party did.
“A big problem for the Sanders theory of this race is that when turnout is high, he wins,” writes Dave Weigel, a political reporter at the Washington Post. “Turnout is way up, but the most reliable new voters are Biden-curious suburbanites.” As election analyst Dave Wasserman noted, the new voters Sanders promised to pull into the party didn’t emerge, and as a result, he’s lost ground from 2016.
Ars Technica
Data shows who was reading “fake news” before 2016 US election
Partisan misinformation online is at least in part a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. There’s the supply on one side, coming in part from politically motivated websites indistinguishable from propaganda but also from some who are just trying to make a buck bringing in clicks with fake headlines. But there’s also the demand to consider—those people voraciously surfing to sate their hunger for bias-confirming outrage. To understand the extent of the problem, it helps to look at both sides of this relationship. What misinformation is floating around, and who is consuming it?
In a new study, Andy Guess, Brendan Nyhan, and Jason Reifler took advantage of survey data tracking the Web histories of around 2,500 people in the month before the 2016 US election. Combined with some demographic survey data on things like their preferred candidate for president, the researchers were able to break down who was reading which articles. […]
About 57 percent of Trump supporters in the group visited an untrustworthy site at least once, amounting to about 11 percent of total news consumption. For the Clinton supporters in the group, it was 28 percent of people visiting at least one article, for 1 percent of their total news consumption.
Tech firms push telework as Amazon employee confirmed with coronavirus
The spread of the novel coronavirus is doing for tech firms what no other argument for remote work apparently could, as Google, Facebook, and others are asking employees to stay home while they do their jobs.
Those policies are looking ever more like sensible precautions, as this week Amazon has confirmed that an employee based in Seattle tested positive for the virus. The employee apparently went home feeling sick on February 25 and has not returned to the office since. Two Amazon employees based in Italy also are confirmed to have contracted the virus.
Wall Street, Encouraged by Biden�s Wins, Breaks Out Its Checkbooks https://t.co/Iwcv9YQ1R5
— Emma Vigeland (@EmmaVigeland) March 5, 2020
If you're sanders after 2016, I don't really understand why you wouldn't just camp out in Clyburn's backyard. I guess hindsight is 20/20, but this seems like a pretty straightforward strategy when you lost because you got destroyed in south carolina.https://t.co/zf9hX9hQ8F
— Noah Berlatsky (@nberlat) March 5, 2020
New: The Super Tuesday shellacking was so thorough that Bernie Sanders� strategy changed overnight. Refusal to attack ads is out; pro-Obama spots are in. Sanders' campaign co-chair says they need to appeal more to older voters and traditional Democrats. https://t.co/Jvqdos8FTy
— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) March 5, 2020