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Police, veterans cuts were not my fault, Boston city councilor in charge of budget says

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson apologized to veterans for a proposal that would have cut $900,000 from that city department’s budget, but stopped short of taking the blame, saying the idea came from one of her colleagues.“It was a low blow and I know that it hurt,” Fernandes Anderson, who headed the Council’s budget process, said at a Wednesday meeting. “I didn’t ask for it and I actually fought against it. I’m not going to embarrass anyone and say who actually proposed it.“I’m just going to say on behalf of the Council to all the veterans in Boston and in America, I apologize. I take that responsibility, because again, I could have fought more,” she added. “It’s a reimbursable fund, but it’s just a bad look and it looks disrespectful.”City Councilor Erin Murphy, however, isn’t buying it.As chair of the committee that held the budget hearings, Fernandes Anderson had “final say” on which of the Council’s collective amendments moved forward, and thus, where the department cut...

Red Sox show off organizational depth by bringing up pair of top prospects

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

The Red Sox are making roster moves in Minnesota.Amidst their ongoing four-game set with the Twins, they placed Corey Kluber on the 15-day injured list with right shoulder inflammation on Wednesday, recalling David Hamilton from Triple-A Worcester to take his place. The 25-year-old infielder got the call Tuesday night, and joined the team on Wednesday morning.Brandon Walter also arrived on Wednesday, and Alex Cora confirmed that left-hander is expected to make his debut in Thursday’s series finale, either as the starter or following an opener.While the roster moves are, in part, due to injuries, they also highlight the depth that has eluded the organization over the last several years.When the pitching fell apart in 2019, the available options on the farm were arms such as Mike Shawaryn (9.74 ERA, 14 games), Bobby Poyner (6.94 ERA, 13 G), and Josh Smith (5.81 ERA, 18 G). Shawaryn and Poyner haven’t pitched in the majors since. What should’ve been a defending-champi...

Ticker: Healey files interim budget; Charitable giving declines in US 

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

While lawmakers continue to hash out a compromise budget for the new fiscal year that begins July 1, Gov. Maura Healey bought them some extra time Tuesday with the filing of an interim budget that would keep state operations going through July.The $6.66 billion budget would authorize spending on “necessary services” through July 31 or until a complete fiscal 2024 state budget is signed by the governor. The bill would also allow Treasurer Deb Goldberg to advance local aid payments to cities, towns, regional school districts and independent agricultural or technical schools that demonstrate “an emergency cash shortfall.”Asked about the interim budget Wednesday, Healey said filing it “was the prudent thing to do” and also said she is hopeful that lawmakers will send her a completed budget soon.Charitable giving declines in USCharitable giving in the United States declined in 2022 — only the fourth time in four decades that donations did not inc...

LeBlanc says plans for new infrastructure funding program on track for the fall

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

WHISTLER, B.C. — Federal Infrastructure Minister Dominic LeBlanc says details on the “next generation” of funding programs are on track to be announced in the fall.Canada’s premiers have pushed for more information on what will replace the $33-billion Investing in Canada Infrastructure program, which ended in March, amid increasing pressures caused by inflation and supply chain issues.LeBlanc’s comments come following a meeting with provincial and territorial infrastructure ministers in Whistler, B.C., which multiple provincial officials said was productive.Both sides are promising future investment focused on climate resiliency, increasing the housing stock, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and growing the economy.In a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week, Canada’s premiers said unprecedented inflationary pressures and cost increases on existing projects are creating fiscal burdens in communities.LeBlanc says Ottawa has been working with...

MPs to break for the summer amid negotiations on inquiry into interference

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

OTTAWA — The Liberals appeared to be on the verge of calling a public inquiry into foreign interference on Wednesday, while all parties agreed the House of Commons would break for the summer at the end of the night.Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc is leading what the government called ongoing and productive discussions with the Conservatives, NDP and Bloc Québécois about how to move forward on the foreign interference quagmire that has clouded the government and this parliamentary sitting for months.Shortly after 8 p.m. on Wednesday, government House leader Mark Holland told the House of Commons all parties had agreed that MPs would wind up the spring sitting at the end of the night and return Sept. 18.Earlier Wednesday, he told reporters that he expected news on the question of an inquiry “very, very soon, given the productive nature of those conversations.”The public inquiry was on the negotiating table as the government sought to get priority bills p...

Siksika Nation artist to design Canada-Afghanistan war monument

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

A Siksika Nation Indigenous artist has been chosen to design a national monument for Canada’s mission in Afghanistan.Adrian Stimson and his team have been working on the project for years, and he says the concept of individuality is integral to the memorial’s purpose.“A lot of monuments don’t have the names of all the soldiers involved, and this one does. It was the importance of remembering them in this particular conflict,” he told CityNews.“If anybody goes to a monument, that sort of special moment of seeing their loved one’s name is something that really resonated with me.”The medicine-wheel-inspired monument will feature the names of all 158 Canadian military members lost in the conflict.Adam Stimson speaks while he looks at a model of a monument his home on Siksika Nation on June 21, 2023. The Ottawa-based monument is for Canadian military members that were lost in Afghanistan, and will feature the names of 158 members. (Tate Laycraft, CityN...

Hollywood writers at rally say they’ll win as strike reaches 50 days

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fifty days into a strike with no end in sight, about 1,000 Hollywood writers and their supporters marched and rallied in Los Angeles for a new contract with studios that includes payment guarantees and job security.Speakers at the Writers Guild of America’s WGA Strong March and Rally for a Fair Contract on Wednesday emphasized the broad support for their cause shown by other Hollywood unions — including actors in their own contract negotiations — and labor at large. “We’re all in it together, we’re all fighting the same fight, for a sustainable job in the face of corporate greed,” Adam Conover, a writer and a member of the guild’s board and its negotiating committee, told a crowd at the end of the march at the La Brea Tar Pits. “We are going to win because they need us. Writers are the ones who stare at a blank page. We are the ones who invent the characters, tell the stories and write the jokes that their audiences love. They’d have nothing without us.”Talk...

Georgia officials lay out obstacles to updating election system before 2024

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia election officials said Wednesday that they would need six to nine months to install new software and hardware to update the state’s voting system to protect against security flaws, pushing back against calls to update the system before the 2024 election cycle.“It’s really not an upgrade,” state Deputy Elections Director Michael Barnes said of the work needed on 30,000 voting machines. “This really would require us to fully rebuild the system.”Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said the state must wait until 2025, but critics continue to pile on, with Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and the state Republican Party joining the chorus in recent days. They say waiting until after next year’s presidential election would leave the voting equipment open to attack.A group called the Coalition for Good Governance has been suing to throw out the state’s electronic ballot marking system. The coalition and the Morgan County Democratic Committee asked the State Elections ...

CFD: 4 injured after driver crashes into light pole in West Lawn

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

CHICAGO — Four people were injured after a driver crashed into a light pole Wednesday evening in West Lawn, according to the Chicago Fire Department.The crash was reported around 7:30 p.m. near West 69th Street and South Pulaski Road. 4 pedestrians in hospital after hit-and-run near Guaranteed Rate Field; man in custody According to the fire department, two people were critically injured and taken to local hospitals.Two other people, one in fair condition and one in good condition, were also injured and taken to hospitals, the fire department said. Additional details haven't been released.

Transgender man says Walgreens employee denied him hormone replacement meds

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 14:50:02 GMT

(KRON) -- A Northern California transgender man took to Reddit to speak out about a local Walgreens pharmacist refusing to give him his prescribed medication, all because it "went against his religion." Roscoe Rike, 30, of Oakland, says he has been going to the Walgreens pharmacy on Telegraph Avenue for nearly a decade. He's been picking up his HRT, or hormone-replacement therapy, at the same location for the past three years, always without issue. Judge rules Arkansas ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors violates US Constitution Rike says this time was different. A pharmacist that Rike had never seen at the location before asked what exactly the medication was for, which seemed unusual."I told him I was pretty sure that it wasn't any of his business," Rike said. At this point, the pharmacist then told Rike that he would not be able to fill the prescription "due to his religious beliefs," Rike said. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)That's when Rike thought he'd...