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MBTA announces service changes along Green Line in January

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

Green Line riders can expect a new series of service changes heading into the new year following an announcement from the MBTA. The T previously outlined some of the upcoming changes. With its announcement on Thursday, though, the agency adjusted some of its timeline for work.The biggest impact will be felt on the C and D branches between North Station and Kenmore station, where service will be suspended for 23 days in January beginning on Jan 3. The stretch will reopen for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend before closing again from Jan. 26 through Jan. 28. Service on the B branch between North Station and Babcock Street and on the E branch between North Station and Heath Street will also be suspended during the same time span.A series of shorter service suspensions is scheduled on the Green Line Extension throughout January.The T has been overhauling its system, completing maintenance across each of its lines.The agency has apologized to riders for various shutdow...

‘Jesus was Palestinian’ graffiti removed from Boston Common nativity scene

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

Authorities are investigating pro-Palestinian graffiti that defaced a nativity scene on Boston Common overnight Wednesday into Thursday morning.Boston police officers responded to a report of the graffiti at around 8 a.m. Thursday, finding the base of the nativity scene vandalized with white painting that read “Jesus was Palestinian,” a department spokesperson said.By early afternoon, staffers from the city’s Parks and Recreation Department had covered the message with paint matching the wood of the nativity scene, facing part of the Freedom Trail walking path near Tremont Street.The Parks and Recreation Department has installed the nativity scene for nearly 100 years, with it going up this year the week after Thanksgiving, officials said.The incident comes amid the Israel-Hamas war. It follows a graffiti incident in early November in which taggers wrote “Free Palestine” on the WBZ-TV CBS Boston Allston headquarters.Boston Common, decorated with holiday lights, was the scene of a gr...

‘Vital’ anti-terror fund fear as $13.3M remains frozen

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

Boston City Council President Ed Flynn said he’s done with playing “politics with the safety of residents” and is asking the mayor to quickly resubmit her request to allocate $13.3 million in federal counter-terrorism funding.Those dollars are for the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region, which includes Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop.Freezing the funds comes as the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have issued a new warning of “lone-actor” threats around the holidays due to the war in Israel against Hamas terrorists.“Since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October, various foreign terrorist media organizations have called for lone actor attacks in the United States,” last week’s alert added. “Racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists have also increased calls for violence and celebrated attacks on the Jewish community.”The Boston City Council has f...

Biden believes U.S. Steel sale to Japanese company warrants ‘serious scrutiny,’ White House says

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

By ZEKE MILLER and FATIMA HUSSEIN (Associated Press)WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden believes “serious scrutiny” is warranted for the planned acquisition of U.S. Steel by Japan’s Nippon Steel, the White House said Thursday after days of silence on a transaction that has drawn alarm from the steelworkers union.Lael Brainard, the director of the National Economic Council, indicated the deal would be reviewed by the secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which includes economic and national security agency representatives to investigate national security risks from foreign investments in American firms.She said in a statement that Biden “believes the purchase of this iconic American-owned company by a foreign entity—even one from a close ally—appears to deserve serious scrutiny in terms of its potential impact on national security and supply chain reliability.” “This looks like the type of transaction t...

Craig Osika steps down as Hobart football coach

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

Hobart High football coach Craig Osika, who led the Brickies to a runner-up finish at the 2020 4A state championship, has resigned to focus on his duties as school co-principal and as a dad.“This is the first year I’ve really felt the strain of doing both,” Osika said Wednesday.His resignation is on Thursday’s school board agenda.“My girls are getting older, they’re 12 and 8 and I’m missing experiences. My parents never missed anything that I wanted to do and I want to do the same for my kids,” he said.His oldest daughter is running cross country and his youngest child is focusing on ballet and tumbling, he said. Both kids enjoy swimming, too.In six years as head coach, Osika posted a 52-20 record. His 2020 team lost to Roncalli in the state championship game, 49-7.A 1998 Hobart graduate and former NFL lineman, Osika played for the Brickies before leaving for Division 1 college ball at Indiana University.“I’ve either been a...

Ticker: Apple loses latest bid to avert patent dispute; Wall Street bounces back

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

Apple on Thursday stopped online sales of two popular models of its internet-connected watch in the U.S. after losing its latest attempt to untangle a patent dispute.Both the Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 became unavailable to order online beginning at 3 p.m. ET, as the company followed through on its plan to suspend sales of them because of a legal battle over an intellectual property claim filed by medical technology company Masimo.The International Trade Commission rejected Apple’s bid to get around a late October order blocking the company from using some of technology underlying the Blood Oxygen measurement feature on the Series 9 and Ultra 2 watches.Wall Street bounces backWall Street rebounded Thursday to claw back most of its sharp drop from the prior day, which was its first big step backward since a rally began in late October.The S&P 500 climbed 1% and is back within 1% of its all-time high, a day after its worst tumble in nearly three months. The Dow Jones I...

Fire erupts at San Ysidro trailer park, destroying home

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A fire erupted at a trailer park in San Ysidro Thursday morning, San Diego police confirmed to FOX 5.The fire was reported around 6:20 a.m. in Mobile Village Park at 181 Willow Road. According to San Diego Fire-Rescue, the first units arrived at 6:28 a.m. A total of 29 personnel responded to the fire, including two trucks and four engines.Upon arrival, crews discovered one trailer in the park that was fully engulfed in flames. SkyFOX, who was over the fire around 6:45 a.m., caught a large plume of smoke coming from the fire that can be seen from the Interstate 5.A woman who lived in the trailer was inside when the fire broke out, but she was able to make it out safely. No injuries to residents or crews have been reported as of 7:30 a.m. Evacuations for the surrounding area were briefly called as SDFD worked to contain the flames.The home where the flames originated was fully destroyed and a neighboring trailer sustained moderate damage. About five to six people living in...

Judge suggests change to nitrogen execution to let inmate pray and say final words without gas mask

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A federal judge who is weighing whether to allow the nation’s first execution by nitrogen hypoxia to go forward next month, urged Alabama on Thursday to change procedures so the inmate can pray and say his final words before the gas mask is placed on his face.U.S. District Judge R. Austin Huffaker made the suggestion in a court order setting a Dec. 29 deadline to submit information before he rules on the inmate’s request to block the execution. The judge made similar comments the day prior at the conclusion of a court hearing.Alabama is scheduled to execute Kenneth Eugene Smith on Jan. 25 in what would be the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas. Nitrogen hypoxia is authorized as an execution method in Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma but has never been used to put an inmate to death.The proposed execution method would use a gas mask, placed over Smith’s nose and mouth, to replace breathable air with nitrogen, causing Smith to die from lack of oxygen....

Eby to target predators after talking to dad of sextortion victim Carson Cleland, 12

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

VICTORIA — Premier David Eby says an emotional conversation with the father of a 12-year-old British Columbia boy who killed himself after falling prey to online sextortion has prompted him to push for more protections for youth.Eby says the New Democrat government plans changes in the new year honouring the memory of Carson Cleland of Prince George, who police said died in October after being victimized online.The premier says he spoke with Carson’s father who told him that since their son’s death, the family has been contacted by the families of three of his classmates, who said their children were also talking online with strangers.Eby says people from across B.C. have been contacting his office saying their children were in situations similar to Carson’s and they only found out due to publicity surrounding the boy’s death.He says Carson’s family are facing devastating loss this holiday season but demonstrated remarkable courage by going public with ...

Dispute over criminal jurisdiction flares in Oklahoma between tribal police, jailers

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 12:00:26 GMT

OKMULGEE, Okla. (AP) — A dispute erupted this week between police officers from the Muscogee Nation and jailers in a small eastern Oklahoma county that led to one jailer facing a battery charge in tribal court.The confrontation underscores the tension between tribal authorities and some state and county officials over the limits of tribal sovereignty. Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt has been a frequent critic of expanded tribal sovereignty and of the landmark 2020 U.S. Supreme Court decision that determined state prosecutors lack criminal jurisdiction over certain crimes committed in Indian Country.The latest altercation began Monday when tribal police attempted to deliver a man arrested for suspected fentanyl possession to the Okmulgee County jail. Jailers refused to accept the prisoner, and a scuffle broke out between a jailer and a tribal officer. The jailer was charged Wednesday in tribal court with battery, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Okmulgee County jail officials did...