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Mass. lawmakers pushing for free rides on the MBTA

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

Massachusetts lawmakers are once again pushing for free rides on the MBTA.Senator Ed Markey and Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley are set to announce the reintroduction of legislation to offer fare-free public transportation on Monday. Markey and Pressley first introduced the legislation in 2020 and have filed the bill multiple times, but it failed to make its way through congress. Boston Mayor Wu and LivableStreets Alliance Executive Director Stacy Thompson will join the lawmakers for a news conference at Ruggles Station at 1 p.m.

Police: Skeletal remains found in swamp believed to be missing Hampstead, NH man

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

Hampstead, New Hampshire police say they recovered skeletal remains in a dense area of a swamp on Sunday and believe that they belong to a man who has been missing for over nine months. Multiple agencies had been searching for 79-year-old John Matson when a drone picked up what looked like skeletal remains and clothing, police say. Officers waded through thick brush and chest-deep water to reach the remains and say it took three hours to remove them. Police say there is “a very high probability” that the remains are Matson, who was last seen leaving his Hampstead home in July. Police say they hope a positive ID will bring Matson’s family some closure.

ASK IRA: Is Haywood Highsmith next man up for the Heat?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

Q: Ira, with the Heat so shorthanded, any chance of the Heat taking the mothballs off Nikola Jovic? He has been out a very long time with back spasms? – Joel.A: No chance. That’s not the direction you go, with an untested rookie, at such a high-stakes moment. With Tyler Herro and Victor Oladipo out, it could come down to whether Erik Spoelstra just goes eight deep, with Kyle Lowry, Caleb Martin and Duncan Robinson as the reserves (assuming Kevin Love again starts), or whether he adds another player into the mix. That player could be Haywood Highsmth, as another element of perimeter defense. As it is, the Heat basically are down to 11 available players, with Herro and Oladipo out, two-way players Jamal Cain and Orlando Robinson ineligible for the playoffs, Udonis Haslem not a rotation element and with Jovic dealing with very real back spasms. So if you are starting Bam Adebayo, Jimmy Butler, Max Strus, Gabe Vincent and Love, and then if you utilize Lowry, Martin and Robin...

Orioles reset: How a mechanical tweak to his ‘nasty’ stuff turned Yennier Cano into one of Baltimore’s best relievers

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

Yennier Cano’s Orioles debut last season could not have gone worse.Pitching in a blowout loss to the Red Sox in September, Cano couldn’t locate his pitches. He walked three batters in the ninth inning, including one with the bases loaded, and was replaced by outfielder Ryan McKenna.The command issues were nothing new for Cano. The right-hander has always displayed the stuff — the heavy sinker, whiffling changeup and sharp slider — to get hitters out, but whether he could find the plate enough to have a big league career was in question.That question, it appears, has been answered.Since he was called up 10 days ago, Cano hasn’t just vaulted himself into a setup role as one of Baltimore’s best bullpen arms; he’s been one of the most dominant relievers in the major leagues, retiring all 17 batters he’s faced across six innings, striking out seven and, miraculously, walking none.“The main thing is just trusting that my stuff is good ...

France bangs pots and pans in fresh anti-pension protest

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A country renowned for its cuisine is turning to pots and pans to express discontent with French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms.French demonstrations against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 have morphed from lobbing paving stones, dodging tear gas and brandishing banners to something nearer the soul of the gastronomic nation: Making noise by banging kitchen saucepans.This very Gallic culinary cacophony – called the “casserolade” — began last week in during a televised speech by Macron. In front of some 300 town halls, including Paris, Marseille, Toulouse and Strasbourg, gatherings formed in an effort to drown out his voice.The pan beating is taking place across France once more Monday evening at 8pm at the behest of ATTAC, an anti-capitalism activist group.Reacting to the din, Macron proclaimed during his visit to Alsace last week that “it’s not saucepans that will make France move forward.”Yet that only fanned the flames underneath the sauce...

3 men arrested in South Africa for stealing large crocodile

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Three men have been arrested in South Africa for stealing a 2.5-meter (8-feet) long Nile crocodile worth about $1,300 from a farm in the North West province, police said Monday.The men, who are all aged between 20 and 35, are believed to have used a pick-up truck to take the animal from a crocodile farm in the Hartbeesfontein area about 200 kilometers (124 miles) west of Johannesburg.The crocodile was found tied up with rope and wire in an abandoned farmhouse. The men had covered it up with tree branches in an attempt to hide it, police said. Police also found the pick-up truck. The men were arrested last week and are due to appear in court on Monday.Police are investigating how they managed to get the large crocodile out of the farm, which had secure fencing, police spokeswoman Col. Adele Myburgh said.“How did they slip this animal out?” she said. “It’s not a baby crocodile by any means.”Myburgh said the crocodile was badly dehydrated when...

European leaders to commit to more wind energy production

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

BRUSSELS (AP) — Nine Western European leaders on Monday are committing to ramp up the production of clean energy from wind turbines in the North Sea to both meet climate targets and reduce their strategic energy dependence on Russia. The leaders will also seek to improve security around the growing underwater electricity grid so it cannot fall victim to hybrid threats. Fears of such attacks have increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. The leaders said in a joint op-ed contribution in Politico that they need more wind turbines and grid infrastructure “to reach our climate goals, and rid ourselves of Russian gas, ensuring a more secure and independent Europe.” To underscore their commitments, the Netherlands, Britain, Norway and the European Union all announced new projects to boost the production of such green energy and move toward greater strategic independence. The summit in Belgium’s North Sea port of Ostend is the second one to address the ever more pressing i...

Animatronic dragon bursts into flames during Disneyland show

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Spectators at Disneyland’s popular “Fantasmic” show got a shock this weekend when the feature’s fire-breathing animatronic dragon suddenly burst into flames. No injuries were reported following the blaze Saturday night at the Southern California theme park, the Anaheim Fire Department said. Ryan Laux, a frequent Disneyland visitor, said fire has always been a part of the “Fantasmic” presentation. But he said he knew something was awry when when flames didn’t come from where they usually do. “The head started going on fire instead of the fire projecting out,” said Laux, who lives in Los Angeles and captured the blaze on video.The show was stopped almost immediately “and then right after that, the dragon started catching fire and the whole body was up in flames,” he said Sunday. The show takes place twice nightly near the park’s famous Tom Sawyer Island. The climax features Mickey Mouse battling a giant dragon named Maleficent.Laux ...

‘Gender Queer’ tops library group’s list of challenged books

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — With Florida legislators barring even the mention of being gay in classrooms and similar restrictions under consideration in other states, a report released Monday says books with LGBTQ+ themes remain the most likely targets of bans or attempted bans at public schools and libraries around the country.The American Library Association announced that Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer” was the most “challenged” book of 2022, the second consecutive year it has topped the list.The ALA defines a challenge as a “formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.”Other books facing similar trials include George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” Mike Curato’s “Flamer,” Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” John Green’s “Looking for Alaska,” Jonathan Evison’s “Lawn Boy” and Juno Dawson’s “This Book Is Gay.”“All the challenges are openly saying that young people should no...

Jury to hear closing arguments in Proud Boys leaders’ trial

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 08:00:45 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A historic trial over the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection is drawing to a close, with prosecutors and defense lawyers set to make their final appeals to jurors before they decide the fate of Proud Boys extremist group leaders charged with plotting to use force to keep then-President Donald Trump in power. A federal jury in Washington, D.C., is scheduled to begin hearing closing arguments on Monday after more than three months of testimony in the seditious conspiracy case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants. Tarrio is one of the top targets of the Justice Department’s investigation of the riot that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress prepared to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory over Trump. Tarrio wasn’t in Washington, D.C., that day but is accused of orchestrating an attack from afar.The Justice Department has already secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the founder and m...