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Healey nominates Mass. Solicitor Elizabeth Dewar to serve on Supreme Judicial Court

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

Gov. Maura Healey nominated state Solicitor Elizabeth “Bessie” Dewar to serve on the state’s highest court Friday, clearing one of two Supreme Judicial Court picks the governor was handed this year.Dewar will fill outgoing Justice Elspeth Cypher’s seat, who plans to retire on Jan. 12, 2024 after serving as an associate justice on the Supreme Judicial Court for nearly seven years.Healey said Dewar is a “consensus builder who has significant experience working with the Supreme Judicial Court and also a deep passion for the important work that the court does.”“She is a true student of the institution, and I am confident that she is the right person to fill this seat in this pivotal moment for the court,” Healey said in a statement.All seven members of the court were selected by former Gov. Charlie Baker, stretching back to Associate Justices Frank Gaziano and David Lowy, whose oaths were administered days apart in August 2016.Advocates quickly praised Healey’s nomination of Dewar...

Bailey Zappe’s impressive win still not enough for Bill Belichick to name him Patriots future starting QB

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

It would be a major shock if Bailey Zappe was not the Patriots’ starting quarterback next Sunday against the Chiefs.But Bill Belichick still won’t announce that decision.Related ArticlesNew England Patriots | Patriots teammate defends JuJu Smith-Schuster after breakout game New England Patriots | Ezekiel Elliott draws unique praise out of Bill Belichick after Patriots win New England Patriots | Patriots’ Bailey Zappe explains where his confidence comes from after Week 14 win New England Patriots | Callahan: Patriots’ upset in Pittsburgh feels bittersweet in the big picture New England Patriots | Bailey Zappe leads Patriots to 21-18 win over Steelers with impressive first half “I’m not gonna get into the future plans right now,” Belichick said Friday morning. “We have a little bit of extra time this weekend. We’ll kind of recalibrate things a little bit. But certainly Bailey’s done a good job....

San Diego police sergeant, suspect shot in 4S Ranch shopping center

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

SAN DIEGO — A report of a stolen vehicle in the parking lot of a 4S Ranch shopping center Thursday night erupted into a shooting that killed a suspect and left a sergeant with the San Diego police department in "serious" condition.Authorities were alerted to a possible stolen vehicle around 10 p.m., according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Officers were able to locate the vehicle in the 10500 block of 4S Common Drive around 11:30 p.m.When SDPD arrived on scene, the suspect was reportedly inside the Ralph's grocery store at the shopping center. Officers attempted to contact the suspect, but SDSO says he ran out of the store. Beware of San Diego ‘jury duty’ scammers While outside of the store, authorities say the suspect fired at least one round at the SDPD officers and struck the sergeant in the head. According to SDSO, multiple responding officers then returned fire, striking the suspect and undisclosed number of times.The suspect fell to the ground after being shot...

Indonesia suspects human trafficking is behind the increasing number of Rohingya refugees

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s government blames a surge in human trafficking for the increasing number of Rohingya Muslims that have entered the country over the past few weeks, the Indonesian president said Friday. President Joko Widodo said in a televised news conference that he received “reports about the increasing number of Rohingya refugees entering Indonesian territory, especially Aceh Province.” “There are strong suspicions that there is involvement of a criminal human trafficking network in this flow of refugees,” he said, adding that the ”government will take firm action against perpetrators of human trafficking.”Police said they arrested three Aceh residents for human trafficking on Friday. They are suspected of helping 30 Rohingya refugees leave their camp in the city of Lhokseumawe. The suspects were given 1.8 million rupiah ($115) to smuggle the refugees from the camp to the city of Medan in North Sumatra province, said Henki Ismanto, the Lhokseumawe poli...

French police address fear factor ahead of the Olympic Games after a deadly attack near Eiffel Tower

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

PARIS (AP) — The bar was already high, but the security challenge ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games only grew with a knife attack last weekend that killed a tourist near the Eiffel Tower. Still, the assault at the hand of a suspected Islamic radical, a kind of invisible enemy, left law enforcement undaunted.The attack quickly raised concern in France and abroad about security for the Games that begin July 26 — in just over seven months. But law enforcement officials appear eager to push back the fear factor and show off a security-ready Paris. “We are trying to make the invisible risk visible,” said Bernard Bobrowska, inspector general of local police for the French capital. “We are ready.”Police evaded questions about possible terror attacks from an Associated Press team following a patrol at the Eiffel Tower on Thursday, insisting that all systems will be “go” for the Olympics. But Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said after the attack that about a third of suspected radicals...

Tony Shalhoub returns as everyone’s favorite obsessive-compulsive sleuth in ‘Mr. Monk’s Last Case’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Fourteen years ago, Tony Shalhoub said goodbye to one of his most beloved creations — the obsessive-compulsive private detective Adrian Monk. Monk’s last TV appearance in 2009 was even called “Mr. Monk and the End.”There was talk over the years of a potential reboot and some possible scripts were floated. But Shalhoub said there wasn’t enough of a compelling reason to return to his phobia-obsessed character.Then the pandemic hit. Monk suddenly wasn’t the only germaphobe wiping down their groceries, stocking up on antibacterial wipes and shuddering at the sight of crowded places.“Monk, in a way, was the canary in the coal mine,” Shalhoub tells The Associated Press. “He seemed so out of touch and so neurotic and so forth. The pandemic was the great equalizer. Everybody got to sort of see the world through Monk’s eyes.”Viewers have caught up with Monk and so fans get another goodbye with the 90-minute “Mr. Monk’s Last Case: A Monk Movie” hi...

Slovak president says she’ll challenge new government’s plan to close top prosecutors office

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

Slovakia’s president said Friday she would seek to block the new government’s plan to return the prosecution of major crimes from a national office to regional ones, using either a veto or a constitutional challenge. But the governing coalition could likely override any veto.The government of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico plans to change the penal code to abolish the special prosecutors office that handles serious crimes such as graft and organized crime by mid-January, and return those prosecutions to regional offices, which have not dealt with such crimes for 20 years.President Zuzana Caputova said in a televised address Friday that she thinks the planned changes go against the rule of law, and noted that the European Commission also has expressed concerns that the measure is being rushed through. The legislation approved by Fico’s government on Wednesday needs parliamentary and presidential approval. The three-party coalition has a majority in Parliament. President Ca...

Police suspect vandalism of vehicle at Jewish school was hate-motivated, woman arrested

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

Toronto police have arrested a woman in a hate-motivated mischief investigation after a car that was parked at a Jewish school and community daycare was vandalized.Officers were called to the school in the Bathurst Street and Wilson Avenue area at around 1:08 a.m. on Saturday, Nov., 25 after reports that a vehicle in the parking lot was damaged with a rock.The incident was captured on security video and police say they were able to identify a suspect.On Wednesday, Dec. 6, an arrest was made.Madeleine Folk, 33, of Toronto has been charged with mischief under $5,000 and two counts of fail to comply with probation.“This investigation is being treated as a suspected hate-motivated offence,” a police release states. Related: 11 charged in hate-motivated investigation after vandalism at Toronto Indigo Man arrested in alleged hate-motivated assault with knife in North York Man wanted in alleged hate-motivated assault after woman punched ...

On sidelines of COP28, Emirati ‘green city’ falls short of ambitions, but still delivers lessons

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A bold, innovative project begun nearly a generation ago to erect a “green-city” in the United Arab Emirates has run into realities and largely missed its mark, offering a cautionary tale about the risk of overblown environmental ambitions even for an oil-rich, future-minded sheikdom.Now 17 years and billions of dollars in the making, Masdar City next to Abu Dhabi’s airport was first envisioned as a sustainable city of tomorrow with features like no cars, subway “pods” to ferry commuters, and solar-powered buildings rising from the desert sands.Those things exist, but not nearly to the extent or in the timeframe once imagined. Masdar City has been a pet project of Sultan al-Jaber, the head of the UAE’s national oil company and the president of the ongoing COP28 climate conference in nearby Dubai, who has sought to cast himself as a promoter of renewable energy transition.It was launched as a $22-billion, state-funded project to create “th...

Biden is launching a Hollywood fundraising blitz to tap into star power with strikes over

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:58:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Here’s a Hollywood ending that President Joe Biden wants to bring to life: an incumbent facing tough polling numbers and questions about his advanced age overcomes a brash opponent to win a second term at the White House.With strikes by writers and actors now over, Biden is beginning to make that pitch to the Southern California set in person. He and First Lady Jill Biden plan to attend six fundraising events and meetings between them this weekend in the Los Angeles area, asking some of the glitziest names in town to open their checkbooks for his reelection campaign.Some of the events will be public and others private over roughly 36 hours in California. But organizers say Biden should raise more this weekend than in any similar time frame since announcing his campaign in April. He may also potentially take in more than any presidential candidate has in greater Los Angeles this far out from Election Day.“The pent-up excitement, enthusiasm is really unpreceden...