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Maryland’s search for a new state elections director is down to 3 finalists

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

This content was republished with permission from WTOP’s news partners at Maryland Matters. Sign up for Maryland Matters’ free email subscription today.The search for a new state elections administrator is now down to three finalists.The five-member Maryland State Board of Elections met Friday to review a tranche of applications for the position and determine which candidates are invited for interviews next week.“Obviously, this is a personnel matter,” said William Voelp, chair of the elections board. “So, we’re trying to be very careful not to use names and things like that just in fairness to the candidates.”The state board is engaged in a fast-moving effort to hire a successor to outgoing state Elections Administrator Linda Lamone.“We had numerous people apply,” Voelp said Friday afternoon following a meeting of the board that was not open to the public. “The board today met and whittled that down to interview three candidates and w...

Un influencer muere tras retransmitir en directo cómo se bebía botellas de licor chino Baijiu

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

(CNN) — Un influencer murió poco después de retransmitir en directo cómo se bebía varias botellas de alcohol de alta graduación en la versión china de TikTok, según informan los medios estatales del país, en un hecho que probablemente renovará el debate sobre cómo regular el sector.El influencer “Sanqiange” (o “Hermano Tres Mil”) fue hallado muerto pocas horas después de retransmitir su participación en una competición con otro influencer que consistía en beber Baijiu, una bebida alcohólica china con una graduación típica de entre el 30% y el 60%, informó Shangyou News.Uno de sus amigos dijo al medio que Sanqiange —identificado por su apellido en la vida real, Wang— había participado en un desafío online conocido como “PK” contra otro influencer en la madrugada del 16 de mayo, y que retransmitió en directo los resultados en su canal Douyin.Los desafíos “PK” consisten en batallas uno contra uno en las que los influencers compiten ...

Not as Stormy for the Memorial Day Weekend

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

The holiday weekend has arrived — Memorial Day Weekend! Often known as the unofficial start to summer, it will sure look and feel like summer in South Florida this weekend. Following days of drenching storms throughout much of this week, our weather pattern will not be as active this weekend and into early next week.Unfortunately, a front that has been near the area over the past few days will remain nearby in a stalled fashion but moisture levels will not be as high and the ingredients will not be as favorable for numerous thunderstorms this time around. Instead, expect sunshine with a morning shower or two, then scattered showers and thunderstorms will become possible once again during the afternoon and evening hours with high temperatures in the mid to upper 80s and a rain chance of 40%.Sunday and Monday are also looking quite similar with the morning sunshine, then the risk for a few showers or storms in the afternoon, which is a very typical situation for this time of the...

Lucas: TikTok … China must have the dirt on Biden clan

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

Forget the FBI.If the Republicans in Congress really want to get the goods on Joe Biden, they ought to contact the Ministry of State Security.It knows more about Joe Biden and the Biden family’s business dealing with the Communists in Beijing than the FBI, CIA and the IRS will ever know — or ever tell you.The MSS is the chief intelligence agency of the People’s Republic of China.It is the Chinese Communist Party’s version of the FBI, CIA and IRS combined into one vast investigative bureaucracy that includes counterintelligence, foreign intelligence, and political security.Their Chinese file on Joe Biden and his family — and the payments they received from the Chinese Communists — must be thicker than an old Beijing phone book, if such a phone book ever existed — and deeper than anything compiled on TikTok.This is not to say that the Chinese would cooperate with such a Hail Mary request to turn over information dealing with the Bidens’ questionable fiscal dealings with Ch...

Could a Floating Hospital treat Mass and Cass addicts?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

A South Boston Democrat wants to put money behind a study that could lead to a medical ship in the Harbor to primarily serve Mass and Cass homeless dealing with mental health issues or substance abuse.A floating hospital designed to serve people living in tents addresses what state Sen. Nick Collins calls a medical facilities shortage in the city. A medical ship could provide patients with a higher level of acute care in a setting completely focused on mental health and substance use, Collins said.“We need an interim solution to a facilities problem that doesn’t allow for us right now to intervene on demand,” Collins told the Herald. “What do you do? You need to provide the resources that don’t take over hospitals and communities.”Senators this week approved Collins’ idea as an amendment to their fiscal 2024 budget.Collins wants to give the Department of Mental Health $50,000 to study the feasibility of converting a decommissioned ship or another ...

Battenfeld: Floating hospital idea to solve Mass and Cass crisis should be sunk

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

Spending taxpayer money to study converting an old cruise ship into a recovery treatment hospital smacks of a political stunt that probably will just be sunk by Boston Mayor Michelle Wu.Victims of the opioid crisis should be in a state of the art treatment center on land – not on display on a decommissioned docked ship to be gawked at by tourists and residents.Yes, the city is desperate to solve the Mass and Cass/Methadone Mile crisis, but this idea should be shelved by the state Legislature – like most of their bad ideas.The state Senate approved legislation this week to have the Naval Construction and Marine engineering program at MIT study the “feasibility” of converting a cruise ship into a floating hospital for mental health, substance abuse and recovery services somewhere on the Boston waterfront.“For years now, the situation at Mass & Cass and throughout our city and Commonwealth have worsened without suitable state intervention,” said state Sen. Nick Collins, who is spea...

Through the lens: A do-or-die performance lifts the Garden

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

The Garden was literally shaking.As I sat in the corner of the parquet, two cameras in my lap, cross-legged in front of the who’s who of Boston in the front rows, I had an amazing view of the Celtics do-or-die Game 5 juggernaut.And the fans almost lifted the roof off the place.Charlie Baker, sitting directly behind me with his wife, fist-bumped me as the three-pointers rained down. To my right was former Celtic great Paul Pierce laughing and enjoying the accolades from the fans around him as he siped a cocktail from a straw.To my left is David Portnoy, founder of Barstool Sports sitting stoically with his model-like girlfriend at his side.Robert Williams III #44 of the Boston Celtics screams out in celebration after dunking during the second quarter of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat at the TD Garden on Thursday in Boston, MA. (Matt Stone/Boston Herald) May 25, 2023Marcus Smart #36 of the Boston Celtics rebounds away from Bam Adebayo #13 and Jimmy Butler #2...

Serbian border troops to maintain highest state of alert after ethnic clashes inside Kosovo

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia on Saturday condemned NATO-led peacekeepers stationed in neighboring Kosovo for their alleged failure to stop “brutal actions” by Kosovo police against ethnic Serbs, and said that its armed forces stationed near the border will remain on the highest state of alert until further notice.Serbia’s top political and security leadership, led by President Aleksandar Vucic, met in Belgrade on Saturday following violent clashes a day earlier between Kosovo police and ethnic Serbs that injured more than a dozen people.In response to the clashes, Vucic on Friday ordered troops closer to the border with Kosovo. “Due to the brutal use of force by (Kosovo Prime Minister) Albin Kurti and his forces against the Serbian people in Kosovo … the armed forces of the Republic of Serbia will remain at the highest level of combat readiness,” said a statement after the meeting of the top Serbian leadership on Saturday.The statement also said that an international civilian miss...

Germany says Russia set to expel German diplomats, teachers, cultural staff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Russia will start expelling German diplomats, teachers and employees of German cultural institutions next month, the German Foreign Office said Saturday — a move that will further enhance tensions between the two countries that have already had very fraught ties since Russia invaded Ukraine early last year.The German foreign ministry sharply criticized Russia’s move, calling the upcoming expulsions a “unilateral, unjustified and incomprehensible decision.”The expulsion will affect several hundred German state employees, including teachers and staff of the Goethe Institute, which promotes German culture and language abroad, daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.The expulsion comes in response to the reduction of the presence of Russian intelligence services in Germany earlier this year.“The Russian Foreign Ministry had made public in April its decision to introduce a cap on the number of staff at our missions abroad and at German intermediary organizations in Russia...

Advocacy group says Iran, Taliban fight on border with Afghanistan as sound of gunfire heard

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:11:20 GMT

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Taliban and Iran reportedly exchanged gunfire Saturday on the Islamic Republic’s border with Afghanistan, an advocacy group said, as tensions rise over water rights between the two nations. Neither Iranian state media nor Taliban-controlled media in Afghanistan acknowledged the fighting on the border of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchestan province and the Afghan province of Nimroz. The advocacy group HalVash, which reports on issues in the predominately Sunni province of Sistan and Baluchestan, quoted residents in the area describing the fighting as starting Saturday morning. The group put the fighting near the Kang district of Nimroz, saying some people in the area had been evacuated. Videos posted online, purportedly from the area, included the crackle of machine gun fire in the distance. The apparent clash comes as Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi earlier this month warned the Taliban not to violate Iran’s water rights to the Helm...