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Saint Aggripina Feast kicks off month of North End celebrations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

The 109th annual Feast of Saint Agrippina flooded the North End with Italian delicacies, music and entertainment, kicking off a month of celebrations.An opening ceremony and procession for the Saint Agrippina feast was held on Thursday. The four-day celebration honors Saint Agrippina di Mineo, the patron saint of thunderstorms, evil spirits, and leprosy. Legend states she was martyred and tortured to death in 256 A.D. by the emperor Valerian.Children of the Saint Agrippina Society led Thursday night’s procession, ushering in three consecutive days of live entertainment, DJs, raffles, and a myriad of vendors. Streets were lined with red, white and gold confetti, with religious relics and statues on display.On Sunday, the festival’s grand procession wound through the neighborhood.The North End will be home to feasts for the rest of the month, with the Madonna Della Cava Feast taking place Aug. 11-12 on Hanover and Battery Streets. The Madonna Della Cava Feast is always held in B...

Groups sue to block Biden’s second try on student loans

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

Two conservative groups are asking a federal court to block the Biden administration’s plan to cancel $39 billion in student loans for more than 800,000 borrowers.In a lawsuit filed Friday in Michigan, the groups argue that the administration overstepped its power when it announced the forgiveness in July, just weeks after the Supreme Court struck down a broader cancellation plan pushed by President Joe Biden.It asks a judge to rule the cancellation illegal and stop the Education Department from carrying it out while the case is decided. The suit was filed by the New Civil Liberties Alliance on behalf of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Cato Institute.The Education Department called the suit “a desperate attempt from right wing special interests to keep hundreds of thousands of borrowers in debt.”“We are not going to back down or give an inch when it comes to defending working families,” the department said in a statement.It’s part of...

Thunderstorms possible for Monday and Tuesday but give way to a dry midweek

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

It might be another mostly rainy week in the Boston area, with thunderstorms to start but a few potentially very nice days on the horizon.According to the National Weather Service, the weekend’s perfect weather will give way to a 50% chance of showers Monday morning that increases to a real possibility for thunderstorms by the evening.“Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy and we’ll have a chance of showers moving in through the afternoon, highs in the upper 70s, showers with thunderstorms for Monday night and some of those thunderstorms could produce some heavy rain,” Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the NWS, told the Herald.Light winds overnight Monday should bring temperatures down to the upper 60s through the night and into Tuesday morning. Dunham said the high chance for thunderstorms and heavy rain continues through the day on Tuesday and that temperature could reach 81 degrees. Temps will likely fall to the mid-60s by the evening, when the chances of rain will also drop to fifty-fi...

Tropical Storm Eugene may bring isolated storms to San Diego County

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Tropical Storm Eugene is brewing off the Baja California coast and is moving west-northwest, which could mean rain and isolated storms midweek for parts of San Diego County.That's according to the National Hurricane Center, which also warned of the possibility of Eugene becoming a hurricane Sunday. Weather officials now anticipate the storm to weaken into Monday.San Diego temperatures proved warm Sunday, especially in the inland areas with some areas hitting highs in the triple digits, the National Weather Service reported. The region's desert also remained under an Excessive Heat Warning with NWS warning of "dangerously hot conditions."Looking ahead, weather officials say those in the region can expect more humidity and muggy conditions into Wednesday as Tropical Storm Eugene weakens. According to NWS, the diminishing tropical storm may provide a chance for isolated showers and storms midweek. San Diego Weather Radar Though NWS expressed lower confidence on the poss...

Evacuation order issued for Village of Mayo in Yukon due to Talbot Creek wildfire

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

MAYO, YUKON — Residents of the Yukon Village of Mayo are under an evacuation order as a wildfire inches closer to the small northern community. The Yukon Emergency Measures Organization says it issued the order at 1 p.m. Sunday due to hazards to life posed by the Talbot Creek wildfire.The order covers all properties from kilometres 35 to 66 along Yukon Highway 11, known as the Silver Trail. The order says RCMP will be involved in expediting the evacuation, and people are being asked to report to either the Mayo Community Hall or the Na-Cho Nyak Dun Government Office. The village of around 450 residents is about a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Whitehorse, and a post from Yukon Protective Services on Saturday says the territory has been experiencing widespread smoky conditions due to wildfire activity. The evacuation order comes a day after the community was placed on an evacuation alert as the Talbot Creek wildfire crept less than 10 kilometres to the community’s south, and w...

Monday is Civic Day but what does that mean?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

The Civic Holiday is one of Canada’s oldest public holidays which happens every year on the first weekend of August. Many across the country are looking forward to having a day off work, but many also don’t know why Toronto observes this holiday. Adam Wynne is a heritage advocate researcher and has studied the significance behind this day. “It was a municipality that originally proposed this holiday, and it spread from the municipality to the provincial level and across Canada and then over to England and then more broadly the British Empire,” says Wynne. “So John Carr was a local alderman, a councillor in this district of Toronto in the 1850s, 1860s and 1870s. And he was the person who actually brought forward the proposal to city council to make a holiday. ” John Carr’s home still stands in the city and is located near Alexandra Park.“This I think is quite unique for that period in that he, within the motion, said that it would specifically be an opp...

Foundation partners with Chicago food pantries to hand out smoke alarms

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Fire Department Foundation is teaming up with local food pantries to get working smoke detectors to people who need them.The National Fire Protection Association found the risk of dying in a home fire is significantly higher when there are no smoke alarms or they don't work. Casa Central hosts back-to-school event on West Side "The working smoke alarm is absolutely critical," Chris Hasbrook, the co-founder of the Chicago Fire Department Foundation, said. The program launched two years ago and is now working with eight local food pantries to get more smoke detectors in homes."Part of our mission is to educate and help serve the needs of fire safety in Chicago and we've bene working to find partners to donate smoke alarms," Hasbrook said. "They know the need of the people who need smoke alarms and need that kind of help."Nourishing Hope fights food insecurity in Chicago and provides the equivalent of four million meals every year. AileyCamp wrap up summer wit...

Adoptees, birth parents prepare for Minnesota birth records to open

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

Mary Jo Lindeberg is 81, but she has never stopped wondering: Who is she, really?She was born in St. Paul, just weeks after Pearl Harbor. She was adopted by an oral surgeon and his office nurse. They changed her name from Carol Louise to Mary Jo and raised her as their own.And for most of a century, she’s carried unanswered questions.“As a kid, I remembered having the fantasy of — oh, I bet my real mom was probably a beauty star and my father was probably a leader of industry,” she said. “Well, we all know that’s probably not the case.”She just doesn’t know.It’s a story common to many families — a secret birth, a new identity and a new love for a child — but also often decades of speculation and separation. For children born in Minnesota, adoptees get a new birth certificate and the details of their actual birth are sealed — their disclosure subject to a parental veto or to secrecy clauses in decades-old adoption agreements. It’s happened thousands of times a year in the past.But a ...

Hits hard to come by as Saints fall 2-0 to Clippers

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

Brent Headrick was slated to start for the St. Paul Saints on Sunday for their afternoon game against the Columbus Clippers, but plans changed for the Saints when Headrick was recalled by the Twins ahead of the game.St. Paul turned to the bullpen and got terrific efforts from four relievers, who allowed just three hits, but they weren’t enough as the Saints mustered just three hits themselves in a 2-0 loss at Huntington Park in Columbus, Ohio.Trevor Larnach had two of the Saints’ three hits, going 2 for 4 with a double, while Gilberto Celestino had the other, a single that helped set up the Saints’ best scoring chance in the third inning. But the Saints (18-15) never found a way to break through.Kody Funderburk got the start after Headrick was recalled, putting in 2 1/3 innings of work and holding Columbus (16-16) to one run on one hit. Patrick Murphy allowed the other run in the sixth inning, a solo home run from Bryan Lavastida. He pitched the final three innings...

Matt Wallner’s walk-off homer puts happy ending on Dallas Keuchel’s return

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:38:51 GMT

Dallas Keuchel’s road back to the majors made its biggest stop on Sunday when the veteran left-hander started a big league game for the first time in nearly a year.MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – AUGUST 06: Matt Wallner #38 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates his walk-off two-run home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks as he rounds the bases in the ninth inning at Target Field on August 06, 2023 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins defeated the Diamondbacks 5-3. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)Keuchel, 35, didn’t get the decision in his first start since Sept. 2 — or provide the biggest bang — but he was a big reason the Twins swept the Arizona Diamondbacks with a 5-3 victory in front of an announced crowd of 24,778 at Target Field.Rookie Matt Wallner and Max Kepler supplied the game-winning power, Kepler tying the game with a leadoff home run off right-handed reliever Paul Sewald and Wallner winning it with a two-run, walk-off homer to nearly the same spot over the scoreboard i...