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More than $30K raised for victims of Scituate fire

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

More than $30,000 has been raised for some of the residents who lost “everything” during a devastating five-alarm fire along Minot Beach in Scituate.The massive blaze that burnt four seaside homes to the ground and destroyed another on Glades Road last week has led to a strong outpouring of community support, with two GoFundMe pages totaling just over $36,500.One of the efforts has raised more than $26,000 for Lesley Stroud, who had been inside her apartment when the fire broke out around 8 p.m. Friday. Her boyfriend noticed flames coming from a neighbor’s home,  called 911 and got Lesley out right away, according to Laura Marinak, who organized the fundraiser for her “dear friend.”Marinak described the apartment as Stroud’s “little slice of heaven — the place she had always dreamed of living, and worth the hour-long commute to her job as a kindergarten teacher.”“We are eternally grateful that Lesley and the other victims were not injured in this tragic event,” Marinak wrote, “and f...

Police: Nashville shooter fired indiscriminately at victims

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

By JONATHAN MATTISE (Associated Press)NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The shooter who killed three students and three staff members at a Christian school in Nashville legally bought seven weapons in recent years and hid the guns from their parents before carrying out the attack by firing indiscriminately at victims and spraying gunfire through doors and windows, police said Tuesday.The violence Monday at The Covenant School was the latest school shooting to roil the nation and was planned carefully. The shooter had drawn a detailed map of the school, including potential entry points, and conducted surveillance of the building before carrying out the massacre, authorities said.The suspect, Audrey Hale, 28, was a former student at the school. Hale did not target specific victims — among them three 9-year-olds and the head of the school — but did target “this school, this church building,” police spokesperson Don Aaron said at a news conference Tuesday.Hale was un...

Boston police search for ‘possible armed suspect’ in Charlestown near Tobin Bridge after car crash

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

A suspect remained on the run after Boston police officers and Massachusetts State Police troopers searched through a Charlestown building near the Tobin Bridge Tuesday afternoon.Police were asking for the public’s help in the investigation after they had found two guns but not the suspect.The officers had been looking for the “possible armed suspect” in 200 Terminal St., following a car crash nearby, according to a Boston Police spokesperson.Officers at around 12:27 p.m. had tried to stop the suspect, who was wanted on warrants, in the Charlestown Housing Development.Police followed the person in a marked cruiser and tried to stop him on Chelsea Street, when he sped away from the officers.Then a short distance away, the suspect struck the guard rail on Terminal Street. He abandoned his motor vehicle, and went into 200 Terminal St., police said.Boston Police and Massachusetts State Police responded to the scene, and they used SWAT and K9 to search the building.Poli...

Nasty Boston redistricting fight back on — now in federal court

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

The City Council’s dirty laundry is back flapping in the wind, this time in federal court, as a multi-day hearing kicked off over whether a judge should step in and scrap Boston’s new redistricting map.City Councilor Michael Flaherty on Tuesday spent around three hours on the stand as a witness for the plaintiffs — who are technically suing him in the case of Walters et al v the Boston City Council in an effort to scuttle the map the body passed in November.“Basically all the rules were out the door,” said Flaherty, describing the stretch run of the redistricting process.The redistricting cycle that will never die continues, for now, in the arguments in this case.Basically, the plaintiffs — a handful of people who live in the districts around which the two sides are at odds — are arguing that in the deliberations, the council focused on racial makeups in the South Boston, Dorchester and Mattapan districts in a way that was inappropriate. They also say there were some procedura...

World's biggest bounce park coming to East County

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

EL CAJON, Calif. -- Get ready to jump and play at the world's biggest bounce park coming to town this week.Tuesday morning, FOX 5's Heather Lake got a sneak peak of the new attraction set to open in East County.FunBox -- 20,000 square feet of bouncy fun -- will open to the public Friday at Parkway Plaza in El Cajon. It's open to all ages -- yes, including adults. Weekend activity: Local park features rope bridges, lookout points At 500 square feet, a separate, smaller "toddler tent" is an area designated just for little ones. Toddlers are welcome in the main area, but must be accompanied by adults.In addition to a 23-foot slide, the bounce park has several themed areas like a "mountain challenge," "battle beam," "gumball gallop," "ninja wall" and even a "chill zone."Sessions are 90 minutes long. Socks are required for entry, and can be purchased on site. Weekend activity: Bootlegger’s tunnel leads from gift shop to sea cave During its grand opening weekend -- Friday til Tuesday ...

Wyoming abortion clinic fire suspect to go free pending case

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — She posted on social media about competing in a bike race, losing her pet hedgehog and visiting a butterfly garden with her grandmother but gave no sign of the anti-abortion views investigators say drove her to set fire to a Wyoming abortion clinic.On Tuesday, a judge ruled that Lorna Roxanne Green may be released from jail to carry on life as a college student pending further developments in her case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick ruled.“I believe the weight of the evidence is strong,” said Hambrick, a substitute judge in the case who’s based in Yellowstone National Park and who presided over Green’s detention hearing by video link broadcast in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne.Green, who waived her right to a preliminary hearing, won’t need to post bond but would owe $10,000 for violating bond conditions.Those conditions include living with her parents in Casper while attending college and working part time as a food delivery driver...

Budget 2023: Projected cost of federal dental program set to more than double

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

OTTAWA — The new federal budget shows the government’s dental-care insurance program is projected to cost more than double what the Liberals originally thought, adding another $7.3 billion over five years.Last year, the government set up a temporary dental benefit for uninsured children under the age of 12 in families with a household income of less than $90,000.That benefit will be scrapped by June 2024. In its place, Tuesday’s budget shows the Liberals are planning a government-administered insurance program, at a cost of $13 billion over five years beginning in fiscal year 2023-24.“By the end of 2023, we will begin rolling out a dental-care plan for what will eventually be up to nine million uninsured Canadians,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in her speech to the House of Commons after tabling the budget Tuesday, according to a prepared version of her remarks.The Liberals will open eligibility this year to people who are under the age of 18, seni...

What is the filibuster, and why does it matter in Nebraska?

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A group of lawmakers is continuing this week to filibuster all bills that come before the Nebraska Legislature — even the ones they support — in protest over a bill that would ban gender-affirming treatments for minors. Supporters of that bill say they’re trying to protect children from making body-altering decisions they may later regret. Opponents say it’s an unconstitutional overreach meant to marginalize LGBTQ+ people.Filibusters are rare in most U.S. state legislatures, but common in Nebraska. Lawmakers use the tactic in each session of the unique one-chamber Nebraska Legislature to try to force compromise on contested bills. This streak of filibusters is the longest in the state’s history and lawmakers behind them vow to block every bill through the end of the 90-day session. Here’s a look at how it could play out:WHAT’S A FILIBUSTER?It’s a political maneuver that extends debate on a bill in an effort to delay or block its pas...

40 killed in fire at immigration detention center in Mexico

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) — Migrants fearing deportation set mattresses ablaze at an immigration detention center in northern Mexico, starting a fire that killed at least 40 people, the president said Tuesday, in one of the deadliest events ever at a Mexican immigration lockup.Hours after the fire broke out late Monday, rows of bodies were laid out under shimmery silver sheets outside the facility in Ciudad Juarez, which is across the U.S. border from El Paso, Texas, and a major crossing point for migrants.Twenty-nine people were injured and were in “delicate-serious” condition, according to the National Immigration Institute.At the time of the blaze, 68 men from Central and South America were being held at the facility, the agency said.Immigration authorities identified the dead and injured as being from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador, according to a statement from the Mexican attorney general’s office. Guatemala Foreign Affairs Minister Mario Bú...

Federal budget 2022: Highest-earning Canadians face minimum tax rate increase

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 13:32:02 GMT

OTTAWA — The federal government is moving to raise the minimum tax rate paid by wealthy Canadians in the budget and narrowing its focus on the highest earners.In its budget Tuesday, Ottawa is raising the alternative minimum tax rate and imposing new limits on many of the exemptions, deductions and credits that apply under the system starting in 2024.“We’re making sure the very wealthy and our biggest corporations pay their fair share of taxes, so we can afford to keep taxes low for middle class families,” Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in the prepared text of her remarks.The alternative minimum tax (AMT) introduced in 1986 is a parallel income tax calculation that allows fewer deductions, exemptions and tax credits than the ordinary tax rules for the country’s highest earners. Wealthy Canadians pay the alternative minimum or regular tax, whichever is higher.The government announced in the budget that it is increasing the alternative minimum rate to 20.5 per cent from 15 per...