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Battenfeld: GOP election win shows migrant crisis a potent political issue

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

The surprise state Senate win for Republicans shows the political potency of the state’s ongoing struggle to deal with the vexing issue of migrants pouring into Massachusetts.GOP Rep. Peter Durant heavily emphasized the migrant crisis and called for overturning the state’s right to shelter law in his campaign.The message appeared to resonate with voters as Durant did well in central Massachusetts towns and even in the cities of Gardner and Worcester, which are dominated by Democrats.Top Democrats should take heed of the results of the special Senate election unless they want to get surprised next November, too.Gov. Maura Healey’s inability to deal with the influx of migrants could come back to haunt her party at the voting booth. Durant’s victory secured a rare seat in the Senate for Republicans.He succeeds Anne Gobi, a Democrat who left the Legislature earlier this year to serve as the director of rural affairs in the Healey administration.It isn’t often that a Republican steals a ...

Craig Breslow says multiple teams interested in Alex Verdugo

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

The likelihood that Alex Verdugo already played his last game in a Red Sox uniform increased significantly on Wednesday, when Craig Breslow told reporters that the club is getting calls about the right-fielder.All signs already pointed to Verdugo, who is in his final year of club control, departing this offseason. The team hasn’t engaged with him on extension talks, and that’s unlikely to change, a source told the Herald.The Red Sox have already begun paring down their outfield. They didn’t extend a qualifying offer to Adam Duvall before this week’s deadline. Aside from Masataka Yoshida, to whom they committed five years and $90 million to last December, the Red Sox can take the younger, club-controlled route with Jarren Duran, Ceddanne Rafaela, Wilyer Abreu, to name a few, and and allocate resources towards greater areas of need.At the beginning of spring training last February, Verdugo approached ownership and top executives, made it clear that he wanted to...

A breakdown of Boston City Council election results

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

With 100% of the votes counted, four new faces will join the Boston City Council, and all four progressive candidates endorsed by Mayor Michelle Wu won their respective races.The results, which include complete reports from all city precincts, solidify the less official victory declarations that were made by candidates Tuesday night, including in the closely watched races for at-large and Districts 5 and 6.In those three races, the Wu-backed candidates, Henry Santana, Enrique Pepén and Benjamin Weber were elected, respectively, while Sharon Durkan, who was also endorsed by the mayor, was re-elected to a District 8 seat she first won in a July special election.In District 3, a moderate candidate backed by former Mayor Marty Walsh, John FitzGerald, was elected to a seat that opened up when the longtime conservative-leaning Councilor Frank Baker chose to seek re-election.The four — or five if Durkan’s relatively new tenure is counted — new faces on the Council were joined by the three ...

Peabody home’s roof collapses in 3-alarm fire

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

Fire struck a large home in Peabody leading to the collapse of its roof and firefighters stuck battling the blaze nearly all day.Peabody Fire Chief John Dowling told the Herald he had only just returned from the scene at around 4 p.m. but that fire crews remained at the scene where they had been working the fire since the initial calls came in at 10:38 a.m.The house fire at 4 Wheatland St. would initially cause three alarms to be struck as the fire, which witnesses say appeared to have started in the exterior before moving into the interior of the balloon-frame home, raged and eventually caused the roof to collapse, Dowling said.Three residents were inside when the fire started but Dowling said they all had escaped without incident. No firefighters were injured during the day’s work to his knowledge.Property records show that the 4,752 square foot home was initially constructed in 1919 and has eight beds and five baths. It was last sold in 2017.Photo by Glenn S. Preston/MediaNews Gr...

Vatican says it’s permissible for transgender Catholics to be baptized

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

In the United States, the national conference of Catholic bishops rejects the concept of gender transition, leaving many transgender Catholics feeling excluded. On Wednesday, the Vatican made public a sharply contrasting statement, saying it’s permissible, under certain circumstances, for trans Catholics to be baptized and serve as godparents.“It is a major step for trans inclusion … it is big and good news,” said Francis DeBernardo, executive director of Maryland-based New Ways Ministry, which advocates for greater LGBTQ acceptance in the church.The document was signed Oct. 21 by Pope Francis and Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, who heads the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was posted Wednesday on that office’s website.If it did not cause scandal or “disorientation” among other Catholics, a transgender person “may receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful,” the document said.Similarly, the document said trans adults — even if they had ...

Michigan couple back from Gaza, recall fear and desperation of being trapped amid war

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — A Detroit-area couple trapped in Gaza like hundreds of other U.S. citizens described the roar of bombs and the fear of not making it home after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.Unable to leave, Zakaria and Laila Alarayshi hunkered down.“I was crying,” Zakaria Alarayshi, 62, told reporters Wednesday at the Arab American Civil Rights League offices in Dearborn, Michigan. “Everyone was scared. Bombs everywhere. When I go to sleep, we cannot sleep. Maybe I’ll sleep in a chair for 30 minutes a day.”He feared the bombs eventually would find them.“If I’m going to die, OK, I don’t care. Die, die,” he said. The Alarayshis were among the U.S. residents who were able to evacuate from Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas militant group surprise attack on southern Israel and the subsequent Israeli bombing campaign and ground invasion. Some 500 to 600 U.S. citizens had been trapped in Gaza since the start of the war, according to the White House. President ...

Negotiations over proposed regulations for deep-sea mining plod along as pressure mounts

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Debate over proposed regulations for deep-sea mining will stretch into next year as a U.N. agency that presides over the international seabed concluded its last meeting of the year on Wednesday.The ongoing debate has led to growing concerns that a company or country will be the first in the world to apply for an exploitation license before any regulatory framework is in place.Juan José González, president of the International Seabed Authority’s council, told reporters that if an application is submitted, the council has an obligation to discuss it.“We would prefer, of course, to have the regulations in place,” he said.Michael Lodge, the agency’s secretary general, said the council expects to have a mining code draft by 2025.However, a Canadian company whose subsidiary is widely expected to be the first to apply for a deep-sea mining license, said late last week that it expects to do so in mid-2024.Corey McLachlan, with The Metals Company, noted that whil...

Martinrea International sees earnings, sales rise in third quarter

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

TORONTO — Martinrea International Inc. says net income for the third quarter was $53.7 million, up from $35.9 million a year earlier. Sales for the quarter were $1.4 billion, up from $1.2 billion during the same quarter last year. The Toronto-based company says net earnings per share were 68 cents, up from 45 cents last year. Martinrea president and CEO Pat D’Eramo says the United Auto Workers strikes in the U.S. did not have a significant effect on the company’s third-quarter performance.However, he says the strikes will have somewhat more of an effect on fourth-quarter results. The company declared a quarterly cash dividend of five cents per share. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2023.Companies in this story: (TSX:MRE)The Canadian Press

Head of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami accuses Labrador group of ‘co-opting’ Inuit identity

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

OTTAWA — The president of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami is accusing an organization in Labrador of co-opting Inuit identities to secure lands, rights and financial resources.Natan Obed argues that NunatuKavut Community Council, which represents some 6,000 people in south and central Labrador it claims to be Inuit, is advancing “illegitimate claims” of Indigenous identity.Todd Russell, president of the NCC, is describing the allegations as “defamatory,” adding that ITK, the national organization for Inuit in Canada, has “no right” to determine the identity of the people his own group represents.It is not the first time the NCC has faced questions about its claims.The Innu Nation has asked the Federal Court to quash a 2019 agreement between the federal government and the council. That memorandum of understanding sets the guidelines for self-determination talks. The Inuit Nunatsiavut government in northern Labrador also does not recognize the council as an...

8 dead in crash after police chased a suspected human smuggler, Texas officials say

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:57:37 GMT

BATESVILLE, Texas (AP) — Eight people died in a South Texas car crash Wednesday while police chased a driver suspected of smuggling migrants, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.It happened around 6:30 a.m. when the driver of 2009 Honda Civic hauling migrants and trying to outrun deputies from the Zavala County Sheriff’s Office tried to pass semi truck on a two-lane road, the state Department of Public Safety said. The Civic collided with a 2015 Chevrolet Equinox.The driver and five passengers in the Civic died, DPS said. Two people in the Equinox also died.The Associated Press