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MassDOT, MBTA quietly get new boss

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

The state has a new Secretary of Transportation, though if you weren’t paying attention you may not have noticed the change.On Monday, while city officials were holding a wreath laying ceremony in memory of the victims of 9/11 at the corner of the the Public Garden, state officials were just a few hundred yards away quietly swearing in the Commonwealth’s newest cabinet member.About two weeks ago, now-former Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca suddenly announced she would step down from her role leading the state’s highway divisions and overseeing the MBTA effective on September 11. Gov. Maura Healey was quick to announce that Fiandaca’s undersecretary, Monica Tibbits-Nutt, would take the helm.In an event advertised by the governor’s office as open to press photography only, held in the Healey’s ceremonial office at the State House on Monday, Fiandaca left and Tibbits-Nutt was sworn in as Acting Secretary of Transportation.The governor’s office issued no release on the...

Teacher in hospital following student fight at Roxbury high school

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

A scuffle between two students at a Roxbury high school landed a teacher who attempted to intervene in the hospital with minor injuries.“This afternoon, an escalated verbal altercation occurred between multiple students during dismissal. In an attempt to de-escalate the situation a staff member sustained minor injuries while responding to the incident,” Sidney Brown, the head of Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, wrote to parents in staff in a letter shared with the Herald.A Boston Police Department spokesman said police were called at around 2:30 p.m. Thursday for the incident. The teacher, according to police, was running to break up a fight and fell in the process.The unidentified teacher was first seen by the school nurse before being tended to by Boston EMS, the letter states, before finally be taken to an area hospital for further examination.The students involved could face disciplinary action based on the Boston Public Schools’ Code of Conduct, according to Brown...

Alleged North End and Charlestown serial rapist to next appear in court on Halloween

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

The man suspected of stalking women in Charlestown and the North End with a series of rapes 15 years ago won’t be back in court until Halloween.The attorneys for Matthew Nilo, 35, of New Jersey, filed for a continuance of the hearing scheduled for Thursday in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston and were granted a new hearing date of Oct. 31.Nilo, a corporate attorney who was working in the New York City area when he was arrested at the end of May, is out on a combined bail of $550,000. That’s $500,000 imposed June 15 when he pleaded not guilty to a series of Charlestown rapes, and then another $50,000 imposed on charges leveled a month later that finger him for a series of North End rapes.The Charlestown rapes for which he was originally charged took place in the Terminal Street area on Aug. 18 and Nov. 22 of 2007, and Aug. 5 and Dec. 23 of 2008. In the first three cases, Nilo is accused of picking women up with his car, driving them to the Terminal Street area and then rap...

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu: ‘No chance’ I would leave office for Harvard, any other job

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu again dismissed speculation she was considering leaving for a job at Harvard University, saying there’s no job out there that could woo her away from the office.“This has been fascinating,” Wu said of the speculation. “There is absolutely no chance I would abandon this role for any other job at any organization, any other level of government.”Wu made her remarks on GBH’s Boston Public Radio Tuesday, when she was asked to address speculation that Harvard brass had offered her a job there, as reported by the Herald last week.A reporter had first pitched the question at an unrelated press conference last Wednesday, during which time the mayor said she had not talked to Harvard about a job at her alma mater, but stopped short of saying there’s no truth to the rumor.“No, I mean, not that I would share it with you,” Wu said at the time, laughing before adding, “I’m always honest.”Since that time, the rumor persisted, but a source said the talk inside City Ha...

Prosecutors in Georgia election case continue to insist Trump and 18 others should be tried together

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Prosecutors who have accused former President Donald Trump and 18 others of participating in an illegal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Georgia maintain that all of the defendants should be tried together, citing efficiency and fairness.The case was brought under the state’s anti-racketeering law, meaning the same witnesses and evidence will be used in any trial, they wrote in a brief they said was filed Tuesday. Holding several lengthy trials instead would “create an enormous strain on the judicial resources” of the county superior court and would randomly favor the defendants tried later, who would have the advantage of seeing the state’s evidence and arguments ahead of time, prosecutors wrote.Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis said last month in announcing the charges that she wanted to try all 19 defendants together. Two of the people charged have filed speedy trial demands, and Judge Scott McAfee set their trial for Oct. 23. ...

Former New York City police commissioner Howard Safir dies

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Howard Safir, the former New York City police commissioner whose four-year tenure in the late 1990s included sharp declines in the city’s murder tolls but also some of its most notorious episodes of police killings of Black men, has died.Safir’s son told The New York Times his father had died Monday at a hospital in Annapolis, Maryland, from a sepsis infection. He was 81.Current New York Police Department Commissioner Edward Caban issued a statement extending the department’s condolences and saying that Safir, who held the role from 1996 to 2000, “was a devoted, dynamic leader.”Safir was named to the NYPD’s top spot by then-Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who had appointed him as fire commissioner two years earlier. Safir succeeded William Bratton, who had instituted policing tactics that had seen success in bringing down the annual number of murders but who left after having a falling out with Giuliani.The murder count continued to fall under Safir, with u...

B.C. officials warn residents to take care when they return to fire zones

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

VANCOUVER — As an out-of-control wildfire still burns near West Kelowna, B.C., officials in the region say evacuated residents should brace themselves for their return to neighbourhoods they may no longer recognize. Officials from the Regional District of Central Okanagan say crews are still busy putting out hot spots and repairing damaged infrastructure affected by the McDougall Creek wildfire.Lance Kayfish, the City of Kelowna’s risk manager, cautioned people about re-entering their communities once evacuation orders are lifted. Kayfish told an information session held online Tuesday that people need “to have a heightened level of caution and safety” when they explore their neighbourhood because it will not be exactly as they left it. He says it’s likely that wildlife including deer and bears will be in areas where there’s been an absence of human activity during the evacuation period. Some areas, he said, may still have active fire hot spots or ̶...

House passes bipartisan measures targeting Iran over death of Mahsa Amini, missile program

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House overwhelmingly approved measures Tuesday targeting Iran for its human rights record and placing restrictions on the country’s ability to import or export its expanding arsenal of weapons. The measures would impose a series of sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader, president and other individuals as Washington seeks to further punish the Islamic Republic ahead of the one-year anniversary of nationwide protests over a mandatory headscarf law. The resolutions will now go to the Senate, where it is unclear if the Democratic-controlled chamber will take them up. The first bill takes aim at Iran’s production and exports of missiles and drones by sanctioning individuals involved in the process, while the second imposes sanctions on high-ranking government officials for “human rights abuses and support for terrorism.” The third resolution specifically condemns the government’s persecution of the Baha’i minority.The near-unanimous passage...

Drew Barrymore dropped as National Book Awards host after her talk show resumes during strike

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Book Awards dropped Drew Barrymore as the host for this year’s ceremony on Tuesday, a day after her talk show taped its first episode since the Hollywood writers strike began.“The National Book Awards is an evening dedicated to celebrating the power of literature, and the incomparable contributions of writers to our culture,” the organization said in a statement. “In light of the announcement that ‘The Drew Barrymore Show’ will resume production, the National Book Foundation has rescinded Ms. Barrymore’s invitation to host the 74th National Book Awards Ceremony.”The resumption of the CBS talk show doesn’t inherently cause issues with the actors guild, which is also on strike, as daytime talk shows are governed by a different Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Radio and Television Artists contract that was renewed and ratified last year. But Barrymore’s show employs at least three writers who are members of the writer...

Common Pantry set to open first location in 56 years, hope to continue feeding community

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:34:51 GMT

CHICAGO -- For the first time in their history, Common Pantry now have a place that’s completely their own 56 years after doors opened for business.Most recently, Common Pantry had been operating out of the basement of Epiphany United Church of Christ which is located just a few blocks away in a 1,500 square foot space.In 2021, with the help of state grants, the pantry purchased the north Lincoln building increasing their square footage to 3,500.Now that renovations are complete, the new site features a large communal and dining area, a commercial kitchen ideal for their hot lunch program, and a grocery shopping area.This in top of additional services like job searches, government benefits, services for the homeless and government documentation.Common Pantry also gained an outdoor courtyard and a volunteer room all to help the pantry provide emergency food and social services to those in need on Chicago's north side."We opened doors in august and it was actually our highest month i...