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Gov. Healey to announce plans to protect access to abortion medication

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey is set to announce Monday her plans to protect access to abortion medication in Massachusetts. Healey will outline how her administration will make sure residents can get mifepristone after a federal court ruling Friday blocked the FDA’s two-decade-old approval of the use of the drug.United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra slammed the court’s ruling. “What you saw by that one judge in that one court in that one state, that’s not America,” he said. “America goes by the evidence, America does what’s fair, America does what is transparent and we can show that what we do is for the right reasons.”The ruling is now on a seven-day hold due to impeding appeals. The DOJ has filed an appeal and is waiting for its day in court.

Cold Start, Mild Week Ahead

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

It was bright, but certainly a bit chilly over the Easter weekend as temps started each day in the 20s and 30s and topped off in the 50s. This week, we’ll start chilly, but watch temps warm up quite nicely through the week. By Thursday and Friday, it’ll feel more like summer. Even this afternoon, the recovery is respectable with highs in the mid 60s inland, 50s at the coast. Sunshine and light winds win out today. Tomorrow, it’ll be a mix of sun and clouds, but it won’t be as chilly of a start with morning temps near 40. The fact that the atmosphere is very dry and enough sunshine is still with us, will allow temps to warm into the low to mid 70s during the afternoon. The breeze is a bit gusty too, so the fire danger is elevated thanks to the winds and low humidity. Best to hold off on burning the yard waster/brush over the next few days. Wednesday will be a touch cooler, but still breezy with highs in the mid 60s to low 70s. Thursday, into Friday, that’...

Phillip Eng begins new position as MBTA general manager

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

Monday is the first day on the job for MBTA General Manager Phillip Eng, who comes to Boston with decades of experience leading transit systems.Gov. Maura Healey, Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll and Transportation Secretary Gina Fiandaca announced last month that they would appoint Eng to the role, which has been filled by Interim General Manager Jeff Gonneville since the departure of former GM Steve Poftak in January. Eng brings with him 40 years of experience as a transportation leader, including time as the president of the Long Island Railroad and the COO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. He also worked for the New York State Transportation Department. Eng says his top priorities are safety and speed, as he knows those things are at the top of the list for many riders.“They’re looking for improved speed,” Eng said at a press conference in March. “They’re looking to make sure we improve the safety. But they use the T quite frequently and they rely on the T.”“We’re going to work ...

Leaked Pentagon documents provide rare window into depth of US intelligence on allies and foes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

(CNN) — Highly classified Pentagon documents leaked online in recent weeks have provided a rare window into how the US spies on allies and foes alike, deeply rattling US officials, who fear the revelations could jeopardize sensitive sources and compromise important foreign relationships.Some of the documents, which US officials say are authentic, expose the extent of US eavesdropping on key allies, including South Korea, Israel and Ukraine.Others reveal the degree to which the US has penetrated the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian mercenary organization Wagner Group, largely through intercepted communications and human sources, which could now be cut off or put in danger.Still others divulge key weaknesses in Ukrainian weaponry, air defense, and battalion sizes and readiness at a critical point in the war, as Ukrainian forces gear up to launch a counteroffensive against the Russians — and just as the US and Ukraine have begun to develop a m...

ASK IRA: Will Heat embrace the reality of play-in desperation?

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

Q: Ira, Erik Spoelstra said that the play-in “is our reality and we must embrace that.” It may be our reality, but I ain’t gonna embrace it. – Bill, Palm Beach GardensA: The beauty is that it doesn’t matter if Bill from Palm Beach Gardens embraces it (no offense, and keeps those cards and letters coming). It matters if the Heat choose to seize on the opportunity. Remember, if you don’t advance out of the play-in tournament, then you become a lottery team. To some fans, that might seem like a good thing, even with the scant opportunity to move up in the draft order. But few players want to exit a season saying they were on a lottery team. That said, it takes more than pride to take a win-and-in game. It takes skill. So now we again see if the Heat are up to the challenge of the Hawks and Trae Young. To a degree, that matchup also will show whether the Heat are up to the challenge of showing that they are at least in the same discussion as last seas...

Lucas: Desperate case against Trump built on porn and perjury

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

Who said God has no sense of humor?Who else would see to it that porn star Stormy Daniels is required to pay Donald Trump $122,000 in legal fees stemming from a defamation lawsuit?Better than that for Trump and his followers is that the news broke the same day that the former president was arrested and arraigned in Manhattan on dubious hush money charges.The charges consist of falsifying business records over a $130,00 hush money payments to Daniels to cover up an alleged affair. Trump has denied the affair.Daniels was a star witnesses who testified before Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s grand jury that handed down the hush money indictments against Trump.The civil litigation and the $122,000 is unrelated to Bragg’s charges, which Trump pled not guilty to, but both involve Daniels.Daniels had sued Trump in 2018 after he called her allegations that an unknown man had threatened her to keep quite about the alleged affair a “total  con job.”Her attorney at the time was the di...

Herald goes on the street with immigration enforcement

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

At 4 a.m. in a Chelsea strip mall parking lot, ICE officers checked weapons one last time and tightened their bulletproof vests as they prepared to target illegal immigrants charged with rape, assault and weapons offenses in a series of early morning raids.Members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team takes a Brazilian national with extensive firearms charges into custody on Tuesday, in Holbrook. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald)Members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team takes Brazilian national with extensive firearms history including ghost gun charges and gang affiliations into custody on Tuesday, in Holbrook, MA. (Nancy Lane/Boston Herald) April 4, 2023Members of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team takes Brazilian national with extensive firearms history including ghost gun charges and gang affiliations into custody on Tuesday, in Holbrook, M...

‘Violent’ suspect sought following unprovoked assault in North York

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

Toronto police are searching for a suspect wanted in an unprovoked attack in North York last week.Police say a man was assaulted by another man on April 6 at Jane Street and Grandravine Drive, south of Finch Avenue.The suspect fled the area. There is no word on the victim’s injuries.The suspect has been identified as 37-year-old Elmer Jiron Morales. He is wanted for aggravated assault.Morales is described as five-foot five inches tall, 160 pounds, with a small build and receding black hair.Police say “he is believed to be violent,” and are asking anyone who spots him to call 9-1-1.

Palestinian teen killed in army raid as settlers hold march

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli fire during an army raid in the occupied West Bank on Monday. The shooting came as thousands of Israelis led by at least seven Cabinet ministers marched to an evacuated settlement in the territory.The march was a defiant signal that Israel’s most right-wing government in history is determined to accelerate settlement building on occupied lands despite international opposition. It also poses a new test for Israel’s security forces after days of unrest fueled by tensions over a contested Jerusalem holy site.Israeli police and army forces were being deployed to the northern West Bank — the scene of frequent tensions in recent months — to secure the march, which comes after days of fighting in Jerusalem and along Israel’s northern and southern fronts. The demonstration added to the already combustible atmosphere in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank that has accompanied the overlapping of maj...

Rights group: China sentences 2 lawyers on ‘farcical’ charge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:55:24 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Two prominent Chinese human rights lawyers have been sentenced to more than a decade in prison, Human Rights Watch said Monday, the latest in a crackdown by the ruling Communist Party on its critics.The rights group said Xu Zhiyong, 50, was sentenced to 14 years and Ding Jiaxi, 55, was given 12 years in prison under the vague charge of “subversion of state power.” Such proceedings are conducted under intense secrecy.“The cruelly farcical convictions and sentences meted out to Xu Zhiyong and Ding Jiaxi show President Xi Jinping’s unstinting hostility towards peaceful activism,” Yaqiu Wang, the group’s senior China researcher, was quoted as saying in a news release.The court in Shandong province, south of the capital Beijing, did not immediately respond to requests for confirmation.Xu and Ding are among a generation of Chinese who held out hope that the ruling party would adopt a more liberal approach to governance after the political chaos of the 1966-1976 Cultural Rev...