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Rep. Peter Durant to be sworn-in as state senator on Nov. 29, officials confirm

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

State Rep. Peter Durant will be sworn-in as a senator the afternoon of Nov. 29 after winning a special election for a Central Massachusetts seat last week, Senate President Karen Spilka’s office confirmed Wednesday.Durant, a Spencer Republican, claimed victory over Rep. Jon Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat who plans to run for reelection to his House seat next year. Durant succeeds Anne Gobi, a Democrat who left the Legislature to serve as rural affairs director for the Healey administration.“I’m looking forward to our new role and we’re currently working on transition from the old district to make sure that no constituent issues fall through the cracks,” Durant said in a statement to the Herald Wednesday.A spokesperson for Spilka said the ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. in a yet-to-be-determined location.Durant will bring the total number of Republicans in the Senate to four, well below the number necessary to break Democrats’ veto-proof majority in the ...

Red Sox announce return of Winter Weekend fan festival in Springfield

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

The Red Sox Winter Weekend fan festival will return to Springfield early next year, with the club announcing the eighth annual event will take place on January 19-20, 2024.For the second straight year and for the third time overall, Red Sox Winter Weekend will be held at MGM Springfield and the adjacent MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. The event will include a welcome and introduction of new and returning players, roundtable discussions with club officials and decision makers, as well as autographs, photos and more.Members of the coaching staff will also be in attendance, as will a number of Red Sox alumni. A specific list of attendees has not yet been announced.The weekend has traditionally served as a celebration of all things Red Sox, though last year’s event took a foreboding turn when owner John Henry and then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom were booed on stage by fans during a question and answer session.Whether the vibes improve this year remains to be seen...

Bruins notebook: Jim Montgomery wants improvement in defending rush

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

The Bruins sit atop the NHL standings with a 12-1-2 record as we inch our way toward Thanksgiving. Given all their key personnel losses, it is stunning they are just a point off the pace they set last year in their record-breaking 65-win season.While many undoubtedly thought at this point last season their success rate was unsustainable – and then proven wrong – this year’s rate of winning seems even less likely to continue without some marked improvement in their defensive game.The B’s are often giving up as many — if not more – high-danger chances than their opponents.The good news is they’ve had the goaltending from Jeremy Swayman (.944 save percentage, 1.69 GAA) and Linus Ullmark (.928 save percentage, 2.23 GAA) to cover up those blemishes. The bad news is they are simply overly reliant on their goaltending to be tremendous every night with what they’re able to create offensively. They have yet to win a game in which their opponent has scored more t...

Trump’s lawyers want a mistrial in his New York civil fraud case. They claim the judge is biased

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked for a mistrial Wednesday in the New York civil fraud case that threatens the former president’s real estate empire. His team accuses the judge of tainting the proceedings with “tangible and overwhelming” bias.In urging Judge Arthur Engoron to stop the case immediately, they argued he had irreparably harmed Trump’s right to a fair trial through “astonishing departures from ordinary standards of impartiality.” They cited his rulings against their client as well as the prominent role played by the judge’s chief law clerk.Engoron gave lawyers who are presenting New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit until Thursday to decide whether they will file a response before he rules.Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has long complained about Engoron, a Democrat. Trump was incensed by a gag order that judge impos...

A suspicious letter to the top elections agency in Kansas appears harmless, authorities say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The substance in a suspicious letter sent to the top elections agency in Kansas doesn’t appear to have been hazardous, and the mail appeared unrelated to threatening letters sent to election offices in other states, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday.The letter delivered Tuesday to the Kansas secretary of state’s office prompted authorities to evacuate its building just before noon and keep it closed for the rest of the day. The KBI said it has identified a suspect in Tuesday’s incident, though no arrest was announced. The KBI also said it has no reason to believe the letter was connected to threatening letters containing a harmless white powder sent in June to dozens of Republican legislators in Kansas, Montana and Tennessee.While authorities are still waiting on final tests of the substance in Tuesday’s letter, preliminary testing indicated it was not harmful, KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood said in an emailed statement. The ...

Mayorkas warns of dangers to the US if it loses tools to block terrorists from using drones and WMD

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is at risk of losing key tools for preventing terrorists from using drones, chemicals or weapons of mass destruction if Congress doesn’t take action soon, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned Wednesday.Congress could temporarily extend the measures dealing with drones and WMD as part of a bill the House approved Tuesday to avert a government shutdown. But a bill regulating chemicals stalled in the Senate after a Republican senator raised concerns that it could make the U.S. chemical industry less competitive, and those powers expired in July. The others also expire this year unless Congress takes action to extend them.“Congress must not allow these DHS authorities to lapse,” Mayorkas said, arguing that they are vital for protecting the country. “This is not a moment to let our guard down.”He spoke during a congressional hearing focused on threats to the homeland alongside FBI Director Christopher Wray and the director of the Nat...

Hospital director in Haiti says a gang stormed in and took hundreds of women and children hostage

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A heavily armed gang burst into a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday and took hostage hundreds of women, children and newborns, according to the director of the medical center who pleaded for help via social media.Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press. “We are in great difficulty,” he said.No further details were immediately available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions for comment.The hospital is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other, with civilians who live in Cite Soleil routinely raped, beaten or killed.Ulysse identified those responsible as members of the Brooklyn gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, best known...

MLB team owners set to vote Thursday on proposed relocation of Athletics to Las Vegas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Major League Baseball team owners are set to vote Thursday on the proposed relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas at the end of their league-wide meeting.Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred was presenting his recommendation to the 30 owners during the three-day meeting, which came about six months after the A’s reached a tentative agreement for a new stadium in Las Vegas after being unable to reach a deal for one in Oakland. Any recommendation for a move would require at least a three-quarters vote — at least 23 owners — for approval. The last team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, who became the Washington Nationals in 2005.When some owners were arriving Tuesday, a plane pulling a banner that read “A’S BELONG IN OAKLAND –#VOTENO” flew above the hotel where they are meeting adjacent to Globe Life Field, home of the World Series champion Texas Rangers.That is part of a last-ditch effort to stop any approval of the move. At least half of the owners we...

Ousted Texas bishop rallies outside US bishops meeting as his peers reinforce Catholic voter values

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

BALTIMORE (AP) — Soon after U.S. bishops inside a Baltimore hotel approved materials on how Catholics should vote in 2024 elections, their recently ousted colleague and dozens of his supporters rallied outside the annual fall business meeting.Bishop Joseph Strickland, a conservative cleric recently removed by Pope Francis as head of the diocese of Tyler, Texas, following his increasingly severe criticisms of the pontiff, prayed the rosary with dozens of supporters along the waterfront.Inside their conference room, the bishops approved a document that didn’t say who Catholics should vote for, but rather how they should rely on the church’s teachings, like its anti-abortion and pro-immigrant stances, when making their ballot choices.The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the top Catholic clergy body in America, approved supplements on Wednesday to its voter guide, which is known as “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.”The materials, which include bulletin inserts and a vid...

‘It’s not enough’: Drivers call out plan to widen busy roadway on Toronto-Pickering border

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:39:00 GMT

Like thousands of other drivers everyday, Steve Garvin spends a lot of his time using Steeles Avenue East to get to and from work.He sums up the experience in two words: “It’s brutal.”It’s a statement echoed by other drivers tasked with using the increasingly busy roadway, which connects East Scarborough in Toronto to Durham Region.“We have a lot of people moving to Pickering and we have a lot of people coming from Toronto who work in Pickering,” says Pickering Coun. David Pickles, Ward 3. “Steeles Avenue is a critical link between the two regions.”At issue is the portion of the roadway — more than five kilometers — that has just two lanes between Tapscott Road and the Pickering line.“It’s four lanes up until those points but as soon as it goes down to two lanes, it’s chaos,” says Garvin. “The traffic just bottlenecks and backs up, especially if other drivers have to make a turn, you can’t pass them.”City of Toronto has plans to widen roadIn...