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Howie Carr: How’s indictment, ex-Methuen Police ‘Don’ Joe Solomon?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

An indictment is always a disappointment, so why is this man smiling?But what does ex-Methuen police chief Joseph Solomon care? His motto is, if you’re indicted, you’re invited.How did he run the Methuen PD, you ask?Like “the don of an organized-crime family,” according to one of the several scathing reports about him over the years.Don Solomon was paid $326,272 a year as chief. Plus he got to run a business on the side — “security.” He got a “night deferential.” He didn’t have one police car, he had two.The second cruiser was used by Chief Solomon to smoke cigars in. Or so said one of the dissident city councilors, who by the way happened to be a Lawrence police officer. You can’t be a real organized-crime don unless you smoke cigars.As he stuffed holiday envelopes full of bribes for his bent feds and crooked local police, Whitey Bulger used to quip, “Christmas is for cops and kids!”For Joseph Solomon, the capo di tutti capi of the Methuen PD, every day was Christmas.When they even...

Ontario city home to Nazi soldier that visited Parliament shares mixed emotions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

Allan Hirsh sits on a lawn chair on a cool fall evening in North Bay, Ont., pondering the mixed emotions he’s been feeling since his community made international headlines. The northeastern Ontario city is the current home to a man who was honoured with a standing ovation in the House of Commons during a visit from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but whose presence in Parliament later caused global outrage and embarrassment when details emerged about his past as a Nazi soldier during the second World War.Hirsh says he can understand the pain many are feeling after Yaroslav Hunka’s reception in the House, noting his own ancestors fled persecution by the Russian Empire for practising Judaism in the early 20th century and many of his loved ones lost relatives and friends during the Holocaust.But Hirsh and other city residents say they are shocked to hear their long-time Member of Parliament Anthony Rota resigned as House Speaker over his choice to invite and recogn...

Some Canadian hockey fans want future partner to cheer for same team: survey

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

With puck drop on a new NHL season just around the corner, fans from coast to coast will begin dusting off their jerseys and reintroducing hockey habits into their daily lives.Canadian hockey fans hope this is the year the decades-long drought ends, and a Stanley Cup comes north of the border.As games get increasingly crucial during the season, relationships could be put to the test.In fact, more than one-in-five Canadian sports fans (21 per cent) say they would rather watch a crucial game over spending a romantic date with their partner, a new study shows.That’s according to research from sports platform The Grueling Truth, which explored the intersection of sports fandom and dating.The survey also found one-in-three Canadians (34 per cent) would rather spend an evening out with their sports hero than their partner.Graphic showing Canadian hockey fans’ willingness, by team, to date a person with the same allegiance. (Courtesy: The Grueling Truth)A portion of Canadian hockey f...

NY woman who fatally shoved singing coach, age 87, is sentenced to more time in prison than expected

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge sentenced a woman who pleaded guilty to fatally shoving an 87-year-old Broadway singing coach onto a Manhattan sidewalk to six months more in prison than the eight years that had been previously reached in a plea deal.During Friday’s sentencing of Lauren Pazienza for manslaughter, Manhattan state Supreme Court Judge Felicia Mennin said she was unconvinced that the 28-year-old Long Island woman took responsibility for her actions on March 10, 2022, when she pushed the vocal teacher, Barbara Maier Gustern, to the ground.Gustern, whose students included “Blondie” singer Debbie Harry, lay bleeding on a sidewalk. She died five days later.Pazienza pleaded guilty on Aug. 23. She could have been sentenced to 25 years had she been convicted during a trial.Pazienza, a former event planner originally from Long Island, has been locked up at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex since a judge revoked her bail in May 2022. According to prosecutors,...

A truck crash in Illinois kills 5, seriously injures 5 and forces an evacuation due to ammonia leak

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say five people were killed and five were seriously injured after a truck overturned in central Illinois, causing a toxic substance to leak from its cargo. Effingham County Coroner Kim Rhodes said the five dead included three from the same family — one adult and two children under 12. The other two were adult motorists from out of state, Rhodes said. Additionally, five people were airlifted to area hospitals, their conditions unknown.The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it will review the crash, which also prompted an evacuation of area residents. Illinois State Police said the accident occurred Friday and involved “multiple” vehicles. It happened about a half-mile east of Teutopolis on U.S. Highway 40. Police said Saturday that due to the plume from the ammonia leak, an evacuation was ordered within an approximate one mile radius of the crash, including northeastern parts of Teutopolis. Crews were working to contain the leak. T...

Indigenous police officer hopes to inspire with trilingual ‘O Canada’ at Blue Jays game

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

Sgt. Chantal Larocque hopes that singing “O Canada” in English, French and Algonquin at Rogers Centre before a Toronto Blue Jays game will open everyone’s eyes to the possibilities of creating a more inclusive game experience.Larocque, who is an officer with the Anishinabek Police Service, sang the national anthem on Saturday as part of the Major League Baseball team’s ceremony for National Truth and Reconciliation Day. She said that including Indigenous languages in the national anthem more frequently would help Canadians work toward reconciliation year-round, not just once per year.Anishinabek Police Sgt. Chantal Larocque sang ‘O Canada’ in Algonquin, French and English at the Blue Jays game on Saturday September 30th. CITYNEWS“It’s what we do the remaining 364 days in the year where we can break down the barriers, the stereotypes, the misinformation that we’ve received over the years in the education system,” said Larocq...

Federal agency sues Chipotle after a Kansas manager allegedly ripped off an employee’s hijab

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

A federal agency has sued the restaurant chain Chipotle, accusing it of religious harassment and retaliation after a manager at a Kansas location forcibly removed an employee’s hijab, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women.In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleged that in 2021, an assistant manager at a Chipotle in Lenexa, Kansas, repeatedly harassed the employee by asking her to show him her hair, despite her refusal. After several weeks, the harassment culminated in him grabbing and partially removing her hijab, according to the complaint.The manager’s “offensive and incessant requests” that she remove her hijab, and his attempt to physically take it off, were “unwelcome, intentional, severe, based on religion, and created a hostile working environment based on religion,” the complaint alleged.Chipotle’s chief corporate affairs officer, Laurie Schalow, said the company encourages employees to report concerns, including...

Biden says a possible shutdown wouldn’t be his fault. Would Americans agree with him?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Staring down a possible government shutdown, the White House wants to make sure any blame would fall at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue — specifically on House Republicans. After all, it was the majority party in the House that had been paralyzed until Saturday by an inability to pass a funding package, stymied by members who don’t want to uphold a bipartisan spending agreement from earlier this year. President Joe Biden is hoping the rest of the country would see things the same way. It’s a murky proposition at a time of extreme political polarization, with many Americans dug into their partisan corners regardless of the facts of the matter.But with a midnight deadline looming, the House on Saturday approved a 45-day funding bill to keep federal agencies open. Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democratic votes for passage to send the package to the Senate, which was meeting in a rare weekend session.A shutdown ...

Judge blocks 2 provisions in North Carolina’s new abortion law; 12-week near-ban remains in place

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A federal judge on Saturday blocked two portions of North Carolina’s new abortion law from taking effect while a lawsuit continues. But nearly all of the restrictions approved by the legislature this year, including a near-ban after 12 weeks of pregnancy, aren’t being specifically challenged and remain intact. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles issued an order halting enforcement of a provision to require surgical abortions that occur after 12 weeks — those for cases of rape and incest, for example — be performed only in hospitals, not abortion clinics. That limitation would have otherwise taken effect on Sunday. And in the same preliminary injunction, Eagles extended beyond her temporary decision in June an order preventing enforcement of a rule that doctors must document the existence of a pregnancy within the uterus before prescribing a medication abortion.Short of successful appeals by Republican legislative leaders defending the laws, the orde...

Truck crash in Illinois kills 5, seriously injures 5 and forces an evacuation due to ammonia leak

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:11:48 GMT

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Authorities say five people were killed and five were seriously injured after a truck overturned in central Illinois, causing a toxic substance to leak from its cargo. Effingham County Coroner Kim Rhodes said the five dead included three from the same family — one adult and two children under 12. The other two were adult motorists from out of state, Rhodes said. Additionally, five people were airlifted to area hospitals, their conditions unknown.The National Transportation Safety Board said Saturday it will review the crash, which also prompted an evacuation of area residents. Illinois State Police said the accident occurred Friday and involved “multiple” vehicles. It happened about a half-mile east of Teutopolis on U.S. Highway 40. Police said Saturday that due to the plume from the ammonia leak, an evacuation was ordered within an approximate one mile radius of the crash, including northeastern parts of Teutopolis. Crews were working to contain the leak. T...