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Migrant “Crisis” Spurs Opening Of New Center In Quincy

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

More than five weeks after the Healey administration pledged to establish more resource centers to help migrant families and people experiencing homelessness, state officials opened their second site in Quincy on Monday as makeshift hotels and motels being used as emergency shelters continue to fill up.The new “Family Welcome Center” is situated at the Cove Fine Arts Center on the campus of Eastern Nazarene College. It comes as the state grapples with a surge of migrants coming to Massachusetts, which is a right-to-shelter-state, from Haiti and South America. State officials and refugee advocates have been unable to pinpoint the volume of migrants arriving here due to a lack of standardized data collection methods.“This second Family Welcome Center will help increase access to services and expedite the rate at which we are able to connect eligible families experiencing homelessness with safe and secure shelter,” Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement Monday mo...

Orioles promoting catcher Samuel Basallo, club’s No. 5 prospect, to High-A Aberdeen

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

Orioles fans in the Baltimore region will soon be able to watch in person the best prospect the club has signed as an international free agent during the Mike Elias era.The Orioles are promoting catcher Samuel Basallo, ranked by Baseball America as the organization’s fifth-best prospect, to High-A Aberdeen, a source with direct knowledge of the move confirmed to The Baltimore Sun.Basallo, who the Orioles signed out of the Dominican Republic in January 2021, has been one of the most impressive prospects this season in a farm system ranked as the sport’s best. After posting solid numbers in rookie ball in 2021 and 2022, the 18-year-old backstop dominated Low-A competition in his first year of full-season ball. In 83 games with Delmarva, Basallo slashed .299/.384/.503 — good for an .887 OPS — with 19 doubles, 12 home runs and 60 RBIs.His performance, combined with his plus power at the plate and arm behind it, has zoomed Basallo up prospect rankings. After openi...

Boston Police ID man wanted in connection with fatally striking boy in Hyde Park, leaving the scene of the crash

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

Police have identified the man who’s wanted in connection with fatally striking a 4-year-old boy in Hyde Park, and then leaving the scene of the crash.Olguens Joseph is wanted on a warrant out of West Roxbury District Court for: motor vehicle homicide by negligent operation; leaving the scene of personal injury and death; and operation of an unregistered/uninsured motor vehicle.Police responded to the fatal hit-and-run on Tuesday, July 18, in the area of 165 Wood Ave., in Hyde Park.Officers at around 9:30 p.m., responded to a report of a child struck by a motor vehicle. Upon arrival, officers found a 4-year-old boy suffering from life-threatening injuries.The boy was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. The family identified the boy as Ivan Pierre.Related ArticlesCrime & Public Safety | 2 killed, 4 injured during night of violence in Boston Crime & Public Safety | Malden man accused of injuring 1-year-old girl ...

Patriots training camp Day 6: Pats’ ‘D’ makes goal-line stand, Rhamondre Stevenson sits

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

FOXBORO — Bill Belichick huddled the Patriots around him near the end of practice late Monday morning. He delivered a simple message.Be physical, but stay on your feet. Let’s get out of here without anyone getting hurt.The injury bug had already bitten the Pats throughout their first padded practice of the summer, temporarily taking out left guard Cole Strange, his backup, Chasen Hines, one tight end and a defensive back. The next few minutes of low red-zone plays followed by goal-line work would bring increased injury risk. The live goal-line period would also be a first at Patriots training camp in two years, another change against the backdrop of a lost 2022 season.Moments later, the ball was placed inside the 2-yard line. Game on.Surrounded by two tight ends, an extra offensive lineman and a couple backs, Mac Jones turned right from under center and into a hand-off. First came newly converted fullback Jahlani Tavai, then Kevin Harris, a bowling ball of a runner at 5-foot-9...

Hunter Biden sold ‘illusion of access’ to his father, former business partner tells Congress

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

By FARNOUSH AMIRI (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Hunter Biden’s former business partner insisted in testimony to Congress Monday that President Joe Biden was never directly involved in their financial dealings, though Hunter would often put his famous father on speakerphone to impress clients and business associates. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee conducted a more than-five hour interview with Devon Archer as part of its expanding congressional inquiry into the Biden family businesses as the GOP explores a potential impeachment inquiry into the president. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers inside the closed-door interview said Archer testified that over the span of 10 years, Hunter Biden put his father on the phone around 20 times while in the company of associates but “never once spoke about any business dealings.”New York Rep. Dan Goldman, who was representing Democrats inside the room, told reporters after the interview that Archer...

Budget passed, tax relief stuck, as Massachusetts lawmakers head home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

Massachusetts state lawmakers handed a $56.2 billion fiscal 2024 budget to Gov. Maura Healey Monday, striking one major item from their legislative to-do list as they enter a month-long recess where mostly local bills move forward.All eyes on Beacon Hill now turn to the status of a tax relief plan that has been stuck since mid-February in closed-door negotiations led by the same two men who struck a deal on the budget. Top Democrats have worked on some form of tax relief for over a year.Senate budget chief Sen. Michael Rodrigues said producing a deal on tax relief is not “difficult at all” but there are a large “volume” of high-priority items on the chamber’s plate.He did not offer a concrete timeline for a tax relief deal but said the Senate would return during their August break “if we need to do it by roll call” vote and the branch wants to do it “as soon as possible.”“Democracy is painstakingly slow,” Rodrigues told reporters on Monday. “The deliberative process can be ver...

Trump political committee has spent more than $40 million on lawyers’ fees as his legal peril mounts

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

By JILL COLVIN and BRIAN SLODYSKO (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump ‘s mounting legal woes are growing more expensive, leading his campaign to request a refund from a supportive super PAC and launch a new legal defense fund to help cover costs.His political action committee, Save America, is expected to disclose Monday that it spent more than $40 million on legal fees during the first half of the year for costs related to defending the former president, his aides and other allies, according to a person familiar with the filing who spoke on the condition of anonymity before the deadline. The number was first reported by The Washington Post.At the same time, Trump’s allies are creating a new legal defense fund that will help pay the soaring legal fees as Trump faces dozens of criminal charges stemming from indictments in New York and Florida, with more expected as soon as this week. The Patriot Legal Defense Fund, as it is called, is i...

Russian missiles kill at least 6 in Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian ballistic missiles slammed into an apartment complex and a university building in President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s hometown Monday, killing six people and wounding 75 others as the blasts trapped residents beneath rubble, Ukrainian officials said.One of the two missiles that hit the central city of Kryvyi Rih destroyed part of an apartment building between the fourth and ninth floors, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. Video showed black smoke billowing from corner units and burned out or damaged cars on a tree-lined street.The dead included a 10-year-old girl and her mother, according to Zelenskyy. More than 350 people were involved in the rescue operation, he said in a Telegram post.The morning attack also destroyed part of a four-story university building.The strike on Zelenskyy’s hometown, which has been hit in the past, happened a day after the Ukrainian president seemed to warn of more attacks inside Russia.“Gradually, the war is retu...

N.S. RCMP suspend search for missing youth, as another flooding victim remembered

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

WINDSOR, N.S. — Nova Scotia RCMP said Monday they suspended their search northwest of Halifax for a youth who was swept away July 22 by rushing floodwaters, as mourners gathered to remember a child killed during that same severe weather event.Police will resume the operation to find the youth once the remaining water in the search area is able to drain, they said. Supt. Sean Auld told reporters in Windsor, N.S., that search teams encountered pockets of water over the weekend up to three metres deep.“These pockets of water have low visibility and unpredictable terrain,” Auld said, adding that they were too dangerous for search teams.RCMP have said two vehicles were knocked off the road into a hayfield in Brooklyn, N.S., by rapidly rising water during a storm that dumped up to 250 millimetres of rain. Last week, searchers recovered the bodies of two six-year-old children — identified as Natalie Hazel Harnish and Colton Sisco — and 52-year-old Nicholas Holland, who was travelling with ...

Wildfire evacuations ease in Osoyoos, B.C., after frightening weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:53 GMT

Hundreds of people are being allowed to return to their homes in Osoyoos in southern British Columbia after winds pushed back a wildfire that threatened the town over the weekend.The town endured a terrifying night on Saturday after the Eagle Bluff fire crossed the border with the United States and surged over hills overlooking Osoyoos.Erick Thompson of the Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen says at a briefing that there are 192 properties now on evacuation order, down from 732.But 2,632 homes are under evacuation alert, and their residents must be ready to leave at short notice.Winds have been a key factor in the battle to save Osoyoos, with Environment Canada calling for northwest winds through Monday before gusts of 20 kilometres per hour were forecast to ease late in the day.The BC Wildfire Service says that helped push the Eagle Bluff wildfire away from Osoyoos, less than two days after flames sparked in Washington state raced over the border.Shaelee Stearns of the BC Wi...