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Boston City Council says ‘no’ to Flynn domestic violence committee proposal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

The Boston City Council shot down a proposal from the body’s president, Ed Flynn, who was seeking the creation of a new committee focused on domestic violence.The proposed rules change to create a City Council Committee on the Prevention of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, which needed two-thirds approval from the 13-member body, was defeated by a 5-2-3 vote Wednesday after a lengthy discussion, with opponents largely stating that another committee is not needed to address the issue.Several opposing councilors, two of whom voted “no” and three of whom voted “present,” mentioned that there are already three committees that could conceivably cover those topics: Public Health, Homelessness and Recovery; Strong Women, Families and Communities; and Public Safety and Criminal Justice.“When we start to hyper-focus on specific issues, then how many committees will we have?” Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson, who voted present, said. “I’m actually of the opinion...

Revolution name Curt Onalfo the club’s sporting director

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

In an anticipated move months overdue, New England Revolution President Brian Bilello on Thursday appointed the club’s technical director, Curt Onalfo, to the post of sporting director.Onalfo, 54, became interim sporting director when head coach Bruce Arena, who served in both capacities, was suspended by the team on July 30 pending an MLS investigation for using inappropriate language. Arena would resign a month later.“Curt has done an outstanding job playing a leading role in our sporting operations for the last five seasons, helping rebuild the Revolution into a trophy contender at every level of our program,” said Bilello.Onalfo has been coaching and performing front office duties over the last 20 years, the last five with the Revolution. Onalfo supervised the Revolution’s Pro Player Pathway, the Revolution Academy and the club’s developmental component, Revolution II, since its inaugural season in 2020. This past campaign, Revolution II set team records for wins, points and goa...

Diamond Baseball Holdings purchasing Red Sox Triple-A affiliate WooSox

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

Diamond Baseball Holdings is adding another Red Sox affiliate to their roster.The group is set to purchase the Worcester Red Sox/WooSox, Boston’s Triple-A affiliate, a source confirmed to the Herald on Thursday.According to the Boston Globe, DBH will buy out a majority of the 11 WooSox owners. Larry Lucchino, the team’s principal owner and former president and CEO of the Red Sox, is expected to stay on as chairman.The sale comes just weeks after Lucchino, 78, went on the UnAnchored Boston podcast and said, “It’s time to sell this team.” However, that DBH is the buyer isn’t much of a surprise. They reportedly made a bid for the WooSox two years ago, offering approximately $50 million for the club, which Lucchino and his partners purchased for approximately $25 million in 2015. DBH also already owns two Red Sox affiliates; they purchased the Single-A Salem Red Sox and Double-A Portland Sea Dogs earlier this year.To describe DBH’s expansion as ...

Mississippi Supreme Court delays decision on whether to set execution date for man on death row

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Supreme Court has temporarily delayed ruling on whether to set an execution date for a man on death row for capital murder.The state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Mississippi Attorney General’s motion to lift a stay and set an execution date for Willie Jerome Manning, 55, would be held in abeyance until the Court rules on Manning’s petition for post-conviction relief. Manning was convicted in 1994 on two counts of capital murder in the December 1992 killings of Mississippi State University students Jon Steckler and Tiffany Miller. The bodies of Steckler and Miller were found in rural Oktibbeha County, and Miller’s car was missing. The car was found the next morning. Prosecutors said Manning was arrested after he tried to sell items belonging to the victims.Manning has maintained his innocence and sought to have evidence in his case re-examined. Manning’s defense team petitioned in September for post-conviction relief based on...

Spy watchdog calls for more information on border agency’s air traveller targeting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

OTTAWA — The national spy watchdog says Canada’s border agency needs to do a better job of documenting how and why it singles out certain air passengers for possible additional scrutiny.The Canada Border Services Agency’s targeting program uses pre-arrival risk assessments to identify inbound air travellers more likely to be ineligible to enter Canada.As a first step, the border agency looks at information about passengers routinely provided by commercial air carriers, including age, sex and national or ethnic origin.The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency found the border agency relies on information and intelligence from a variety of sources to determine which data elements to treat as indicators of risk.In a report released late today, the intelligence watchdog says the border agency has the legal authority to conduct such air passenger targeting.However, it found shortcomings in the border agency’s documentation of its program activities that made ...

Don’t eat pre-cut cantaloupe if the source is unknown, CDC says, as deadly salmonella outbreak grows

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

Consumers shouldn’t eat pre-cut cantaloupe if they don’t know the source, U.S. health officials said Thursday, as the number of illnesses and recalls tied to a deadly salmonella outbreak grows.At least 117 people in 34 U.S. states have been sickened by contaminated cantaloupe, including 61 who were hospitalized and two who died, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 63 illnesses, 17 hospitalizations and one death tied to the same outbreak have been reported in Canada. The illnesses are severe, with more than half of infected people hospitalized, including residents of long-term care centers and children in day care, the CDC said. Previous recalls of whole and pre-cut cantaloupes have been expanded to include Kwik Trip markets, Bix Produce and distributor GHGA, which sent recalled products to Kroger, Sprouts Farmer’s Markets and Trader Joe’s stores in several states, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Because of ...

Casino workers seethe as smoking ban bill is delayed yet again in New Jersey Legislature

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A bill to end smoking in Atlantic City’s casinos that appeared headed for its first vote Thursday was delayed yet again when Democratic lawmakers said they did not have enough votes to advance it.They also said they would listen to alternatives proposed by the casino industry including enclosed smoking rooms in which no employee would be forced to work.That infuriated over 100 casino workers who packed a hearing room in the state Capitol, convinced that after nearly three years, their state representatives were ready to start the smoking ban on its way to approval.“It’s incredible that we’re here begging again to have the same thing everyone else has,” said Lamont White, a dealer at the Borgata and a leader of the drive to end smoking in Atlantic City’s nine casinos.“We have to endure hours on the job with secondhand smoke in our faces without the ability to turn away,” added Nicole Vitola, another Borgata dealer active in the anti-smokin...

House passes resolution to block Iran’s access to $6 billion from prisoner swap

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House passed a bipartisan measure Thursday that would block Iran from ever accessing the $6 billion recently transferred by the U.S. in a prisoner swap, a step Republicans pushed in response to the nation’s alleged role in the deadly attacks last month by Hamas on Israel.The measure — titled the No Funds for Iranian Terrorism Act — passed 307-119 as Republicans sought to hold the Biden administration accountable for what they call their complicity in funding Iranian-backed terrorism in the Middle East. “With such instability in the region, the last thing we need to do is to give access to $6 billion to be diverted to more Iranian-sponsored terrorism,” Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said during a debate. U.S. officials have rebuffed this criticism, noting that not a single dollar has yet to be made available to Iran and insisting that when it is, it can only be used for humanitarian needs.Republican critic...

US prosecutors say plots to assassinate Sikh leaders were part of a campaign of planned killings

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A foiled plot to assassinate a prominent Sikh separatist leader in New York, just days after another activist’s killing, was meant to precede a string of other politically motivated murders in the United States and Canada, according to U.S. prosecutors.In electronic communications and audio and video calls secretly recorded or obtained by U.S. law enforcement, organizers of the plot talked last spring about plans to kill someone in California and at least three other people in Canada, in addition to the victim in New York, according to an indictment unsealed Wednesday.The goal was to kill at least four people in the two countries by June 29, and then more after that, prosecutors contend.After Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist who had been exiled from India, was shot and killed outside a cultural center in Surrey, British Columbia, on June 18, one of the men charged with orchestrating the planned assassinations told a person he had hired as a hitman that he ...

Mom convicted of killing kids in Idaho taken to Arizona in murder conspiracy case

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:00:56 GMT

PHOENIX (AP) — A woman sentenced to life in an Idaho prison for murdering her two youngest children and another woman is now in an Arizona jail on charges related to another slaying, authorities said Thursday.Maricopa County Sheriff Paul Penzone said deputies arrived in Phoenix with Lori Vallow Daybell late Wednesday night.The sheriff’s office shared video of Vallow Daybell being brought into the jail in a blue jumpsuit. She is then seen in an orange jailhouse uniform before having her mugshot taken.She is wanted in Arizona to face charges of conspiring to kill her estranged husband as well as her niece’s ex-husband.In 2019, Vallow Daybell still lived in a Phoenix suburb with her children, 7-year-old Joshua “JJ” Vallow and then-16-year-old Tylee Ryan. She was estranged from her fourth husband, Charles Vallow, at the time, and he had written in divorce filings that she claimed to be a goddess sent to usher in the Biblical apocalypse. Charles Vallow was shot and killed by Vallow...