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Massachusetts politics saw everything from alleged political corruption to shelters bursting at the brim

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey knew coming into office at the start of 2023 that Massachusetts’ emergency shelter system was already experiencing issues as more people sought refuge in state-funded temporary housing.But an influx of migrants fleeing unstable home conditions and rising housing costs hurting vulnerable residents already here pushed the shelter network to the brink, producing a logistical headache for Beacon Hill and one of the top political stories of the year.“I certainly knew that we had a migrant crisis when I took office,” Healey said in an interview with the Herald earlier this month. “What I didn’t know is that it would grow exponentially worse.”From the overburdened shelters to former U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Rachael Rollins resigning in disgrace and continued woes at the MBTA to legislative action (or inaction), 2023 shaped up as a head-spinning year for those in power in the Bay State.Shelters burst with newly-arrived families and those from right here at hom...

UN chief closes tribunal founded to investigate 2005 assassination of former Lebanese prime minister

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

BEIRUT (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has closed an international tribunal that was created to investigate the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the U.N. chief’s spokesperson said Sunday.Over the years, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon held in absentia proceedings and found three members of the militant Hezbollah group guilty in connection with Hariri’s death in a massive Feb. 14, 2005 truck bombing. The tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands, sentenced the three — Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hassan Habib Merhi and Hussein Hassan Oneissi – to five concurrent sentences of life imprisonment.Hezbollah officials have repeatedly denied that members of the group were involved in the suicide attack and refused to deal with the tribunal. The bombing killed Hariri and 21 others, and wounded 226.The trial judges had said there was no evidence Hezbollah’s leadership or Syria were involved in the attack but noted the assassination hap...

Drag performer slur perpetuates myths, Ont. judge rules, defamation suit advances

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

A lawyer for a drag performer says a recent Ontario court ruling signals people using dangerous anti-LGBTQ slurs can’t hide behind certain free speech protections to shield themselves from legal accountability. The ruling this month out of Thunder Bay, Ont., clears the way for lawyer Douglas Judson’s client to advance a defamation suit against a man who allegedly used a slur on his self-identified “media/news” Facebook page to accuse drag performers of predatory behaviour. In rejecting the man’s attempt to have the suit dismissed before trial, the judge wrote that “groomer” is a slur and his comments describing performers as such perpetuated hurtful myths and stereotypes about LGBTQ people. The decision indicates the man claimed the lawsuit was meant to stifle his comments on a matter of public interest, arguing he was stating his opinion about current events and a CBC’s alleged promotion of the drag performance at a lib...

Lithium-ion battery fire in a cargo ship’s hold is out after several days of burning

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — After lithium-ion batteries burned in a large cargo ship’s hold for a number of days, the U.S. Coast Guard said late Saturday that the fire was out and directed the ship to anchor near Dutch Harbor, Alaska. The 19 crew members of the ship, Genius Star XI, were uninjured and technicians from the Salvage and Marine Firefighting team remain onboard to ensure the fire doesn’t return, according to a Coast Guard press release.“This protected anchorage … will allow the vessel to remain stable, minimizing risk of any re-flash of the fire as we continue our response,” Capt. Chris Culpepper said in the press release, which said an investigation into the fire’s origins will begin once response efforts wrap up. Genius Star XI was shipping lithium-ion batteries from Vietnam to San Diego. The crew alerted the Coast Guard early Thursday morning to the fire, after pumping carbon dioxide into hold No. 1 — where the blaze began — and sealing it, ...

Shecky Greene, legendary standup comic, improv master and lord of Las Vegas, dies at 97

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shecky Greene, the gifted comic and master improviser who became the consummate Las Vegas lounge headliner and was revered by his peers and live audiences as one of the greatest standup acts of his generation, has died. He was 97.His widow, Marie Musso Green, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that her husband died early Sunday at their home. She said her husband of 41 years died of natural causes.Those who saw Greene in his decades of comedy dominance on the Vegas Strip in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s said that with a mic in his hand he could roam a room and work a crowd like no other.He couldn’t wait to abandon written jokes for the shared thrill of improv.“I’ve never had an act,” Greene told the Las Vegas Sun in 2009. “I make it up as I go along.”Greene made huge fans of his fellow entertainers including Bob Hope, Johnny Carson, and, most famously, Frank Sinatra, who hand-picked him as his opening act for a stretch. Greene couldn’t resist the gig with the biggest st...

Man charged with murder after fatal stabbing at Burger King in Des Plaines

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

DES PLAINES, Ill. -- A suburban man has been charged with murder after a man was stabbed to death outside a Burger King in Des Plaines, police said.According to the Des Plaines Police Department, 42-year-old Antonio Solorio of Mount Prospect faces a felony of first-degree murder. Police were able to identify Solorio as a person of interest through several witnesses and surveillance footage in the area. He was taken into custody outside a family member's residence in Streamwood Friday afternoon. 6-month-old baby dies after hit-and-run crash on South Side: CPD Police said Solorio gave full confession to investigators. Investigators say Solorio got into a fight outside the Burger King in the 800 block of South Elmhurst Road on Wednesday night with a man, who he then chased inside and stabbed. Mario Jara-Antemante, a 28-year-old man from Mt. Prospect, suffered multiple stab wounds and died at the hospital.Investigators found that Solorio and Antemante knew each other from the area an...

Student debt fight ends year on disappointing note

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

(The Hill) -- Student loan borrowers began 2023 with money and hope. The year will end with resumed monthly payments and only limited debt relief.At the start of the year, student loans remained in their pandemic pause, as President Biden’s debt relief plan headed to the Supreme Court. But the administration decided that once the Supreme Court ruled on the legality of his loan forgiveness plan — regardless of the outcome — borrowers should have to restart their payments.  In June, the conservative-majority court ruled Biden’s plan to forgive at least $10,000 for all student loan borrowers was illegal. Here are the states with the highest average student debt “I think the low point is definitely the loss at the Supreme Court and, with that, payments coming back on. I think that's actually in some ways equally as bad to see [loans turned back on] after we fought so long to keep them off,” said Natalia Abrams at the Student Debt Crisis Center (SDCC).The White House moved forward from...

Muddy Paws Cheesecake’s fight to survive boosted by TV personality buying $40K worth of pies

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

Muddy Paws Cheesecake, a fixture in St. Louis Park for the past 30 years, put out a plea for help after it closed this week, saying without nearly a quarter of a million dollars in donations, it would shutter its doors forever.Marcus Lemonis, television personality and philanthropist, bought $40,000 worth of pies from St. Louis Park’s Muddy Paws Cheesecake to help keep the business afloat. (Photo by Dan Steinberg/Invision/AP, File)Marcus Lemonis, a television personality and philanthropist, stepped in this weekend and offered to buy $40,000 worth of pies if the bakery agreed to give them away on Instagram.Best known for scooping up sinking small businesses on the CNBC show “The Profit,” Lemonis clarified on Instagram that his help was to keep the business going while also bringing attention to needed improvements in the bakery’s business practices:“The purpose of the process is to keep the business alive,” he commented on the bakery’s announ...

20-year-old woman killed in stabbing outside Federal Heights apartment

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

A 20-year-old woman was killed in a stabbing outside Tuscan Heights Apartments in Federal Heights on Saturday afternoon, according to police.Officers responded to reports of a woman who had possibly been stabbed outside the apartments at 1700 W. 85th Ave., at approximately 3:27 p.m., according to a news release from the Federal Heights Police Department.Related ArticlesCrime and Public Safety | Glenwood Springs woman found not guilty by reason of insanity in 2021 double homicide of children Crime and Public Safety | Adams County man sentenced to life in prison for fatally stabbing brother with sword The woman was taken to North Suburban Medical Center and later died, according to the department.Police are looking for a man suspected in the stabbing who knew the woman. Details about the man were not immediately available on Sunday.Anyone with information about the incident can contact Metro Denver Crime Stoppers at 720-913-7867.This is a developing sto...

Danish Queen Margrethe unexpectedly announces she will abdicate after 52 years on the throne

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:27 GMT

(CNN) — Denmark’s Queen Margrethe II has announced she will abdicate her role on January 14, 2024 after a reign lasting more than five decades.Queen Margrethe will hand over the throne to her son Crown Prince Frederik, she said in her traditional New Year’s Eve speech broadcast on Danish television.She cited a back surgery in February 2023 as giving her thoughts about the future and decided “now is the right time” to pass the responsibility to the next generation.“In two weeks time I have been Queen of Denmark for 52 years. Such an amount will leave its mark on anybody – also on me! The time takes its toll, and the number of “ailments” increases. One cannot undertake as much as one managed in the past,” she said in her remarks.The-CNN-Wire & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.