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State Breaks Ground on New Veterans Home in Holyoke

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

Three years after a COVID-19 outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home resulted in at least 76 veterans’ deaths, and several investigations, lawsuits and an oversight reform law later, shovels broke ground Monday on a new Holyoke Veterans Home.The $483 million facility will house 234 long-term care beds for the state’s medically vulnerable veteran population, according to Gov. Maura Healey’s office. The new home is expected to be completed in summer of 2028.Rendering of the Holyoke Veterans Home campus.The project to replace the Holyoke home will be funded by a combination of $263.5 million in federal funds through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs State Home Construction Grant Program, and a state bond bill passed in 2021 which sent $400 million to finance the project’s design and construction.“That’s why we are hired to work for you, to go to work, whether it’s in the State House or our nation’s capital, to secure funding, t...

RFK Jr. said he would sign federal abortion ban after 3 months, then campaign says he ‘misunderstood’ question

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

After Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over the weekend said he would sign a federal abortion ban after 3 months of pregnancy, his campaign said he “misunderstood” the reporter’s question in a noisy Iowa hall.RFK Jr. on Sunday at the Iowa State Fair was asked if he would sign a federal bill to protect the abortion rights from the Roe precedent.“I believe a decision to abort a child should be up to the woman during the first 3 months of life,” Kennedy responded to the NBC News reporter.In a follow-up exchange, Kennedy was asked if he would cap abortions at 15 weeks or 21 weeks of pregnancy.“Yes, three months,” RFK Jr. responded, and the reporter again reiterated his proposed cap on 3 months. “Yes, I would,” he said.The reporter noted that his response was at odds with the Democratic Party platform. Many of Kennedy’s stances do not align with the Democratic Party.“Once a child is viable, outside t...

Federal officials announce aid for water and shelter as Maui residents reel. Follow live updates

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

By REBECCA BOONE (Associated Press)Follow live updates about wildfires that have devastated parts of Maui in Hawaii this week, destroying a historic town and forcing evacuations. The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora, which passed south of the island chain, was partly to blame for strong winds that initially drove the flames, knocking out power and grounding firefighting helicopters.Federal officials say more than 3,000 people in Maui have registered for various kinds of federal assistance — a number that’s expected to grow. FEMA Director of Operations for Response and Recovery Jeremy Greenberg told reporters on Monday that the agency was distributing aid, including $700 one-time payments for critical needs such a water and medical supplies as well as lodging paid for by FEMA.The Biden administration and the Hawaiian government has launched a transitional shelter assistance program for residents in need of housing, letting them move to hotels or motels, FEMA a...

Ticker: UBS to pay $1.44B to settle 2007 fraud case; US Steel spurns $7.3B offer from rival

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

UBS will pay U.S. authorities $1.44 billion to settle the last lingering legal case over Wall Street’s role in the housing bubble of the early 2000s, which ultimately led to the 2008 financial crisis and Great Recession.The Swiss bank agreed to pay a civil penalty over how it handled the sale of 40 mortgage-backed securities issued in 2006 and 2007. The settlement argues that UBS bankers gave false and misleading statements about the health of the mortgages in those bonds.With the UBS settlement, the last remaining outstanding legal case from the Great Recession has now come to a close, the Justice Department said. Banks paid collectively more than $36 billion in civil penalties for their conduct related to the mortgage crisis.US Steel spurns $7.3B offer from rivalUnited States Steel Corp. said that it rejected a $7.3 billion buyout proposal from rival Cleveland Cliffs and was reviewing “strategic alternatives” after receiving several unsolicited offers.Pittsburgh-based ...

5-year-old buried in Rio after being killed during protest against police violence

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A 5-year-old girl was buried in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, two days after she was fatally shot as shantytown residents protested against alleged police violence.Eloáh Passos died when she was hit by a gunshot at her home in the Morro do Dende, one of Rio’s most violent areas. Passos’ neighbors allege the shot that killed her came from one of the policemen who tried to block a local protest against the death of a 17-year-old boy earlier in the day.Rio police said in a statement they would investigate the girl’s death.The child’s father, Gilgrês dos Santos da Silva, 31, carried her small casket to her grave in a northern Rio cemetery as local residents applauded, cried for justice and released fireworks in respect to the girl’s death. “I don’t know who did it. I just know that my daughter’s life was taken,” da Silva told journalists after the burial. Wendell Eduardo de Almeida, 17, was killed Saturday after he allegedly refused ...

Environmentalists sue Puerto Rican government over location of renewable energy projects

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Activists and environmental groups including the Sierra Club sued Puerto Rico’s government Monday over the planned location of dozens of renewable energy projects meant to ease the U.S. territory’s power woes.The lawsuit claims the projects would be built on lands that are ecologically sensitive and of high agricultural value, a violation of local laws.The groups requested that a judge prohibit various local government agencies from approving projects on such lands, noting that they should instead be built on roofs, parking lots, landfills in disuse and previously contaminated grounds.“The loss of prime agricultural land to install solar projects of an industrial magnitude is a serious attack on the food security of Puerto Rico, which is already in precarious condition,” said David Sotomayor, a soils professor at the University of Puerto Rico.Puerto Rico’s Energy Bureau has so far approved 18 projects on more than 2,000 hectares that the lawsuit states a...

Wendy McMahon and Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews take lead news executive roles at CBS

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — CBS on Monday appointed executive Wendy McMahon to an expanded role that puts her in charge of the network’s news division, its locally owned stations and its syndication business.For slightly more than two years, McMahan has worked in tandem with Neeraj Khemlani, leading the network’s storied news division and the news operations at the 14 network affiliates it owns, in cities like New York and Los Angeles.Khemlani said on Sunday that he was stepping down as co-president of CBS News and Stations. The impending retirement of Steve LoCascio, president of CBS Media Ventures, will give McMahon a bigger job that includes overseeing syndicated programs like “Jeopardy!,” “Entertainment Tonight” and “The Drew Barrymore Show.”One of her first steps on Monday was appointing 30-year CBS News veteran Ingrid Ciprian-Matthews to lead the news division. Ciprian-Matthews was most recently executive vice president of newsgathering at CBS News.McMahon has moved aggressive...

Andrea Bain named new co-host of ‘The Social’ as Elaine Lui prepares to depart

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

TORONTO — Andrea Bain has been named the new full-time co-host of CTV’s daytime talk series “The Social.”The seasoned television personality, whose hosting credits include CBC’s “The Goods,” has previouslyfilled in as a guest host and is now joining full time.The announcement was made on Monday’s episode of “The Social” by departing host Elaine “Lainey” Lui, who previously announced she was leaving to focus full time on her gossip blog and entertainment news show “Etalk.” Bain has previously worked as a reporter and anchor at CTV and as an entertainment journalist at the Los Angeles-based TV station Reelzchannel. In a Bell Media release, she says she is looking forward to bringing a “different perspective” to the talk show’s analysis of the news of the day, and that the team won’t shy away from complicated topics. The show is also helmed by Melissa Grelo, Cynthia Loyst and correspondent Jess Allen. It̵...

Federal judges question Alabama’s new congressional map, lack of 2nd majority-Black district

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Federal judges reviewing Alabama’s new congressional map on Monday sharply questioned if state lawmakers ignored the court’s directive to create a second-majority Black district, so minority voters have a fair opportunity to influence elections. The three-judge panel held a hearing as they weigh whether to let the map stand or to step in and draw new congressional districts for the state. The panel heard arguments Monday but did not indicate when it would rule.Alabama was forced to draw new district lines after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a surprise June decision, upheld the panel’s earlier finding that the state’s then-map — which had just one Black-majority district out of seven in a state where more than one in four residents is Black — likely violated the federal Voting Rights Act. Lawyers for plaintiffs in the case argued Monday that the new plan, which maintains one majority-Black district, still discriminates against Black voters. They said ...

EXPLAINER: Why is a police raid on a newspaper in Kansas so unusual?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:25 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Tensions between public officials and the press are hardly unusual. To a large extent, it’s baked into their respective roles.What’s rare in a democratic society is a police raid on a news organization’s office or the home of its owner. So when that happened late last week, it attracted the sort of national attention that the town of Marion, Kansas, is hardly used to.The Marion Police Department took computers and cellphones from the office of the Marion County Record newspaper on Friday, and also entered the home of Eric Meyer, publisher and editor. The weekly newspaper serves a town of 1,900 people that is about 150 miles (241 kilometers) southwest of Kansas City, Missouri.Within two days, the raid drew the attention of some of the nation’s largest media organizations, including The Associated Press, The New York Times, CNN, CBS News, the New Yorker and the Gannett newspaper chain.WHAT PROMPTED THIS ACTION?Police said they had probable cause...