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Gina Fiandaca no longer employed by Healey administration, official confirms

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

Former Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca is no longer employed in Gov. Maura Healey’s administration, ending a roughly three month run as a senior advisor, a position she took on after unexpectedly stepping down from her cabinet-level post.A spokesperson for Healey confirmed Fiandaca’s employment ended Dec. 31, 2023, three months and two weeks after stepping into the advising role on Sept. 11, 2023, a move Healey said ensured a “smooth transition” on her way out the door.A message sent Tuesday to a number listed in Fiandaca’s name did not immediately receive a response.No reason was given for why Fiandaca stepped down as secretary but the August announcement came after revelations the Massachusetts Department of Transportation awarded a no-bid contract worth $900,000 to a company affiliated with a personal associate of hers.At an unrelated press conference days after the announcement, Fiandaca did not answer multiple questions about why she was leaving and where she plann...

Earthquake rattles Queens, may have caused Roosevelt Island explosions in NYC

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

Thomas Tracy | New York Daily News (TNS)NEW YORK — An earthquake rattled parts of Queens Tuesday morning and may have sparked a series of underground explosions reported on Roosevelt Island, city officials said.“The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that a 1.7 magnitude earthquake has occurred near Astoria, Queens,” Notify NYC reported. “The earthquake has reportedly been felt in the New York City area, but there are no reports of injuries or damage in New York City at this time.”Residents of both Manhattan and Queens reported hearing multiple explosions just before 6 a.m. centered on Main St. in Roosevelt Island  just south of the Roosevelt Island Bridge to Queens. Callers reported that at least one building near the explosion shook, an FDNY spokesman said.Firefighters arrived and found no flames and no one injured. The explosion, which may be electrical, appeared to have occurred underground.The FDNY handed the job over to Con Edison, which was investigating. Resident...

Brother of powerful Colombian senator pleads guilty in New York to narcotics smuggling charge

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

New York (AP) — The brother of a powerful leftist senator in Colombia pleaded guilty Tuesday to federal narcotics charges as part of a sting in which he offered to introduce U.S. drug informants to dissident guerrillas who could help smuggle huge quantities of cocaine to New York.Álvaro Córdoba, dressed in prison garb, pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a single count of conspiring to send 500 grams or more of cocaine into the U.S. He will be sentenced to a mandatory five years and prison but could also face more than two decades behind bars. His plea does not contain any promise to cooperate with law enforcement.“I knew that the cocaine would end up in the United States and I knew what I was doing was wrong,” Córdoba, who will be sentenced in April, told Judge Lewis J. Liman. Córdoba, 64, was arrested in Medellin, Colombia, in 2022 and extradited to the U.S. almost a year ago by President Gustavo Petro, who was elected with the support of Córdoba’s sister, Sen. Pied...

Ottawa to accept 1,000 applications from Canadians’ relatives seeking way out of Gaza

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government says a maximum of 1,000 Palestinian relatives of Canadian citizens will be able to apply to escape the Gaza Strip with Canada’s help.The special extended family program for people in Gaza is set to launch next week, after Palestinian Canadians pleaded for months to get help from the government to rescue their loved ones as the Israel-Hamas war continues.The policy details released last week says the program will stop taking applications either after it receives 1,000 requests, or after a year has elapsed.The program would offer Palestinians visas allowing them to take refuge in Canada for three years if their families are willing to financially support them during that time. But the immigration minister says Canada cannot guarantee safe passage out of the Palestinian territory, and Ottawa has no control over who can cross the tightly controlled border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt on any given day.A spokesman for the National Council of Canad...

Biden administration asks Supreme Court to allow border agents to cut razor wire installed by Texas

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow Border Patrol agents to cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border, while a lawsuit over the wire continues.The Justice Department filed an emergency appeal Tuesday, asking the justices to put on hold last month’s appellate ruling in favor of Texas, which forced federal agents to stop cutting the concertina wire the state has installed along roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) of the Rio Grande near the border city of Eagle Pass. Large numbers of migrants have crossed there in recent months.The court case pitting Republican-led Texas against Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration is part of a broader fight over immigration enforcement. The state also has installed razor wire around El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley, where migrants have crossed in high numbers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also has authorized installing floating barriers in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass and...

TTC reviewing crowding at Union Station after NYE festivities, fight a factor

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

A fight on a Toronto subway train that took it out of commission not long after the new year was rung in contributed to crowds at the city’s largest transit hub as revelers were travelling home, Toronto’s transit operator said Tuesday as it planned to review what happened.The Toronto Transit Commission said the large crowds at Union Station, as well as what led to them, will be reviewed when it meets with the city and regional transit operator Metrolinx later this week.Videos posted on social media showed people crammed shoulder to shoulder in parts of Union Station following New Year’s Eve festivities in the city.TTC’s spokesman Stuart Green said a fight took place on a subway train that had to be taken out of service shortly before 12:30 a.m., when people started leaving downtown Toronto. Green said that caused a 10-minute delay and entry to that platform was restricted.“As customers on the incident train were being offloaded onto an already busy plat...

Cherelle Parker publicly sworn in as Philadelphia’s 100th mayor

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

Cherelle Parker, who has held local and state office and first got involved in politics as a teenager, publicly swore her oath of office on Tuesday as Philadelphia’s 100th mayor, becoming the first woman to do so.The 51-year-old Democrat with years of political experience took the helm of the nation’s sixth-largest city in a ceremony at the historic Met in Philadelphia. She succeeds term-limited Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney.“By every statistic imaginable, I am not supposed to be standing here today,” Parker told supporters gathered for her roughly hourlong address. “I, Cherelle Parker, was a child who most people thought would never succeed. And they almost did have me thinking the same thing.”Surrounded by family, friends, former mayors and current U.S. and state legislators and officials, Parker echoed her campaign promise: to make Philadelphia the “safest, cleanest, greenest big city in the nation that will provide access to economic opportunity for all.”Parker had emerged e...

South Africa’s genocide case against Israel sets up a high-stakes legal battle at the UN’s top court

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — South Africa has launched a case at the United Nations’ top court alleging that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide.The filing and Israel’s decision to defend itself at the International Court of Justice set up a high-stakes showdown before a panel of judges in the Great Hall of Justice.The case will likely drag on for years. At its heart is the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.The convention defines genocide as acts such as killings “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”Here are some further details on the case and its ramifications. WHAT IS SOUTH AFRICA’S ARGUMENT?South Africa’s 84-page filing says Israel’s actions “are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part” of t...

‘Black Panther’ performer Carrie Bernans identified as pedestrian hurt in NYC crash

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — The woman who was pinned under a food truck when a driver fleeing police plowed into pedestrians in midtown Manhattan early on New Year’s Day has been identified as an actor who has appeared in films such as “Black Panther” and “The Color Purple.” Actor and stunt performer Carrie Bernans suffered broken bones and chipped teeth and is in a great deal of pain following the crash near Penn Station on Monday, her mother posted to Instagram.Bernans’ publicist did not immediately return a message left Tuesday seeking comment.Police said a 44-year-old man was fleeing officers at around 1:30 a.m. when he drove onto the sidewalk and injured several pedestrians, including a woman who was pinned under a food truck.None of the injuries were life-threatening, police said. The driver was arrested on charges including attempted murder, reckless endangerment and driving while intoxicated.The crash happened about a dozen blocks south of Times Square, where thousands...

Dozens of donated toys not delivered to families will be held until next Christmas

Published Sun, 29 Dec 2024 20:19:40 GMT

Dozens of toys donated to the Salvation Army’s annual Toy Mountain campaign didn’t make it under a Christmas tree for local families in need this holiday, after a bin was not emptied in time.As of Monday morning, the donation bin at Promenade Shopping Centre in Thornhill was still overflowing with new toys meant to ensure deserving children had a gift to unwrap on Christmas morning.“In some cases, where donations to The Salvation Army are received or picked up after Christmas, toys are carried over to the following year,” Public Relations Officer Erin Boyle with the Salvation Army Ontario Division told CityNews in a statement.Boyle added the late pick-ups are important for distribution to families in the early part of the next holiday season when local toy drives are just beginning.The Salvation Army says toys dropped off at major malls were picked up regularly so that they could be sorted and distributed as quickly as possible. It’s unclear whether the bin at Promenade had been emp...