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Hurricane Lee’s high winds, rains and waves are approaching New England and eastern Canada

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

By DAVID SHARP, ROBERT F. BUTAKY and PATRICK WHITTLE (Associated Press)BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) — New England harbors and fishing villages were being emptied of boats — and some were becoming ghost towns — as commercial fishermen and recreational boaters scrambled Friday to make final preparations for the arrival of Hurricane Lee, a storm threatening to bring tropical-storm-force winds across a swath of land and sea hundreds of miles (kilometers) wide.Hundreds of out-of-state utility workers poured into Maine amid fears of widespread power outages because of a combination of heavy winds and rain-saturated soil in the nation’s most heavily wooded state.Lee remained a hurricane with 80 mph (128 kph) winds at 2 p.m. EDT Friday as it headed to New England and eastern Canada with 20-foot (6-meter) ocean swells, strong winds and rain. Forecasters said there would be winds topping 40 mph (64 kph) across an area spanning more than 400 miles (643 kilometers) ahead of la...

Lucas: Right-to-shelter law needs to go

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Democrat Gov. Maura Healy is lucky she reigns in a one-party state.Otherwise, she would have been quickly taken to tasks over her handling of the disruptive and costly illegal immigrant invasion of Massachusetts.But she gets a pass because there are no Republicans of any state-wide stature around anymore to take her on over the issues. The GOP in Massachusetts has been wiped out.Yes, Healey’s predecessor former Gov. Charlie Baker was a Republican, if in name only. But he governed like Democrat, which is why the Democrats loved him.And Democrats can rest assured that Baker voted for Healey over GOP conservative Geoff Diehl in the 2022 gubernatorial election.Not only was Diehl defeated, but the Democrats went on to win all six of the state’s constitutional offices and maintain its overwhelming control of the Massachusetts Legislature.The few Republicans who survived in the House and the Senate are those who go along with the Democrats anyway.So, there is no opposition and no noteworth...

Most reality TV cast and crew aren’t unionized. Will that change?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Nina Metz | Chicago TribuneThe unions representing Hollywood actors and writers have been on strike for months over better pay and working conditions. This week, Marvel VFX workers voted to unionize for similar reasons. Is it time for reality TV cast and crew to follow suit?The ongoing work stoppage has prompted network television to rely on reality programming more than usual, with “Big Brother” as one example. Though it typically airs over the summer, this season CBS is extending it into November, making it the longest season in the show’s history.With high viewer ratings but smaller budgets than their scripted counterparts, it’s inevitable that the conversation about what constitutes a fair workplace environment has expanded to reality television.For nearly a quarter century, Andy Dehnart has been the preeminent journalist covering unscripted TV at his site Reality Blurred. In a recent column, he makes a persuasive case that workers both in front of and behind the camera are in n...

Frolic in Las Vegas’ fabulous Pool District this fall

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

Laurie Baratti | TravelPulse (TNS)Given the relentless heat waves that have affected much of the U.S. this summer, it’s pretty reasonable to expect that a so-called Indian summer will follow in temperate regions like the southwest. Which is why autumn just might be the perfect time to enjoy the last of the year’s idyllic days spent at the swimming pool in places like Las Vegas.Sitting right at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ pool scene is perfect for discerning travelers seeking to make the most of their stays. Its stylish and socially vibrant Pool District offers a distinctive set of aquatic playgrounds where guests can enjoy everything from a refreshing dip to some relaxation in the sun, or gathering socially for great food and drink.A distinguishing element of cabana and daybed reservations at The Cosmopolitan is that, rather than paying a traditional rental fee, guests commit to a built-in food and beverage minimum for the day they’re reserving t...

Jackson says we must own hardest chapters of US history during 1963 church bombing remembrance

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Standing at the pulpit of the Birmingham, Alabama, church where four little girls were killed by a Ku Klux Klan bomb in 1963, Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said the nation must remember and own the uncomfortable moments of its past in order to move forward.Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court, spoke at the 60th anniversary of the Sept. 15, 1963 bombing at 16th Street Baptist Church. “Today we remember the toll that was paid to secure the blessings of liberty for African Americans and we grieve those four children who were senselessly taken from this earth and their families robbed of their potential,” Jackson said.She said the country should celebrate the great strides that have been made since 1963 but that there is still work to do. ”The work of our time is maintaining that hard-won freedom and to that we are going to need the truth, the whole truth about our past,” Jackson said.Jackson said she knows that atro...

A man faced murder charges after deputies killed his cousin in a drug raid. A jury acquitted him

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Varshan Brown was charged with murder and taken to trial after sheriff’s deputies fatally shot his cousin in a violent drug raid at Brown’s southeast Georgia home.After hearing four days of evidence and arguments in a Camden County courtroom, a jury convicted Brown, 49, of possessing cocaine and assaulting officers by shooting at them. But jurors concluded the death of his cousin, Latoya James, wasn’t Brown’s fault. They acquitted him of a felony murder charge.Attorneys for James’ family said the verdict Thursday validates their argument that deputies ultimately were responsible for the 37-year-old Black woman’s death — not only because they shot her, but also for bursting into Brown’s home with little warning in the middle of the night. They have compared the deputies’ actions to the botched Kentucky narcotics raid that left Breonna Taylor dead and have a federal civil lawsuit pending that seeks $25 million from the Cam...

In San Francisco, Kenya’s president woos American tech companies despite increasing taxes at home

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenya’s president is wooing American tech companies, promising a business-friendly environment — even though he has raised taxes on businesses at home. President William Ruto made the appeal in an address to leading U.S. technology companies and investors on Friday in San Francisco, highlighting investment opportunities in his country and lauding his government’s “strategic priorities.” “For the sake of stability, we have a tax code that is simple to enforce, consistent, fair and predictable” — one that won’t change in the next three years, he said. “We have eliminated value-added tax on exported services and the tax on stock-based compensation for employees of startups, as well as the domestic equity requirement for ICT companies,” he said.But critics say that his government’s newly imposed and also several proposed taxes will increase the cost of doing business in Kenya, including in the tech sector.His administration in its firs...

A Jan. 6 rioter was convicted and sentenced in secret. No one will say why

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of rioters have been charged, convicted and sentenced for joining the mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. Unlike their cases, Samuel Lazar’s appears to have been resolved in secret — kept under seal with no explanation, even after his release from prison. Lazar, 37, of Ephrata, Pennsylvania, was arrested in July 2021 on charges that he came to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, dressed in tactical gear and protective goggles, and used chemical spray on officers who were desperately trying to beat back the angry Donald Trump supporters. There is no public record of a conviction or a sentence in Lazar’s court docket. But the Bureau of Prisons told The Associated Press that the man was released from federal custody this week after completing a sentence for assaulting or resisting a federal officer. Lazar was sentenced in Washington’s federal court on March 17 to 30 months in prison, according to the Bureau of Prisons, but there’s no public record of such a ...

Guatemala’s president-elect says he’s ready to call people onto the streets

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — President-elect Bernardo Arévalo plans to call Guatemalans into the streets next week to protest efforts to derail his presidency before he can take office, he said Friday in an interview with The Associated Press.It would be Arévalo’s first such request since winning the election Aug. 20. Since his landslide victory, the attorney general’s office has continued pursuing multiple investigations related to the registration of Arévalo’s Seed Movement party, and alleged fraud in the election. International observers have said that is not supported by evidence.Arévalo said he has tried his own legal maneuvers to stop those who want to keep him from power, but now it’s necessary for the people to come out to the streets to support him. He said he wants to see businesspeople, farmers, Indigenous groups, and workers all come out to reject what has been happening.It wouldn’t be the protest of one party, or oneself, against the system, but rather of “a people...

Lawsuit alleges sexual assault during Virginia Military Institute overnight open house

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:12:52 GMT

LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — A prospective student claims in a lawsuit that a Virginia Military Institute cadet sexually assaulted her during a 2021 overnight open house.The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg on Thursday states that the woman, then a high school student interested in attending the nation’s oldest state-supported military college, was assigned a cadet host with whom she shared a room, The Roanoke Times reported.The woman identified as Jane Doe in court records attended a two-day open house, described on VMI’s website as the best way for high school students to “experience first-hand what it’s like being a cadet,” with her parents, who have strong ties to the school, according to the lawsuit. The assault allegedly happened early on Sept. 18, 2021, and later that day after leaving campus with her parents, the student “expressed in an extremely distressed manner” that she had been sexually assaulted, the lawsuit stated. The cadet was not identified by name or sex i...