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MBTA asks for more time to complete corrective actions, cites track work, personnel shift

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

The MBTA petitioned federal transit regulators Friday for more time to complete a list of corrective actions — including an agency-wide staffing analysis — they are taking in the wake of an investigation into the Massachusetts agency that was prompted by a string of safety failures.In a letter obtained by the Herald, a top MBTA official cited track “safety actions” and a personnel shift announced last week that divided the agency into four different divisions as the reason for needing an extension for some plans they submitted to the Federal Transit Agency.“As you will see, there are some broad but relatively minor shifts requested across specific action items in many of the [corrective action plans] for whom our stakeholders have had to focus on [right of way] safety policies and procedures in the immediate short term, preventing us from progressing on other [corrective action plan] actions,” MBTA Chief of Quality, Compliance, and Oversight Meredith Sandberg wrote in a letter to th...

Two San Diego-area restaurants among best in the country: Tripadvisor

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- Good eats are easy to find throughout San Diego County. In fact, two restaurants in the region are considered among the best in the country.Tripadvisor, a popular travel guide platform, announced Wednesday its final Travelers' Choice Award for 2023: Best of the Best Restaurants. Two eateries in region were named on the list in their respective categories. To find which spots are serving up "the best of the best," researchers at Tripadvisor analyzed the quality and quantity of reviews and ratings for restaurants on the platform. Data was considered from June, 2022 through May 31, 2023. Top 8 San Diego area suburbs for first-time homeowners: study The platform's findings were specific to each award subcategory, as well as an additional editorial process. Those subcategories included the following: quick bites, date night, family-friendly, vegetarian, hidden gems, everyday eats, and fine dining.The first San Diego-area spot to be named on Tripadvisor's Travelers' Choice...

Police scuffle with electoral court justices in Guatemala as prosecutors seek to seize vote tallies

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Policemen shoved and wrestled with justices of Guatemala’s top electoral tribunal Saturday, as prosecutors sought to seize the tally sheets of votes from the August presidential elections. There were harrowing scenes of justices holding tight to boxes, as police tried to wrestle them away as part of raids to investigate spurious claims of voting fraud. Observers at the time said they saw no evidence of any such fraud, and most in Guatemala see it as an attempt to weaken or disqualify the winning candidate, Bernardo Arévalo.Seventy-year-old Justice Maynor Franco, wearing a suit and tie, refused to give up his grip on a vote box, even as a much younger agent tried to wrestle it away. Justice Blanca Alfaro pleaded with officers not to take the boxes, because they represented the will of voters. She was shoved and briefly fell to the floor during the fracas. Saturday’s events came during the latest round of raids by Attorney General Consuelo Porras and prosec...

Food insecurity in Indigenous communities an urgent public health crisis: expert

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

A new study says First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children suffer disproportionately from food insecurity to the point that it’s an urgent public health crisis.Food insecurity is the inability or uncertainty of being able to consume a diet of adequate quality or quantity “in socially acceptable ways.” The most recent data from Statistics Canada shows that in 2021, 12.9 per cent of the general population suffered from food insecurity, while in Indigenous communities, that number is almost double at 24.1 per cent.Study lead author and pediatrics specialist Dr. Anna Banerji says in some remote Indigenous communities in the North, there are children who don’t have food for entire days, which experts call “severe food insecurity.”“To some of these communities, the cost of food is really, really unbelievable, or just astronomically high compared to places like Toronto or in the south,” she said.“And there have been studies which have sh...

New York begins drying out after being stunned and soaked by record-breaking rainfall

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City began drying out Saturday after being soaked by one of its wettest days in decades, as city dwellers dried out basements and traffic resumed on highways, subways and airports that were temporarily shuttered by Friday’s severe rainfall.Record rainfall — more than 8.65 inches (21.97 centimeters) — fell at John F. Kennedy International Airport, surpassing the record for any September day set during Hurricane Donna in 1960, the National Weather Service said.Parts of Brooklyn saw more than 7.25 inches (18.41 centimeters), with at least one spot recording 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) in a single hour, turning some streets into knee-deep canals and stranding drivers on highways.More rain was expected Saturday but the worst was over, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Saturday morning during a briefing at a transportation control center in Manhattan.“We’ve seen a whole lot of rainfall in a very short period of time,” the governor said. “But the good news is that the st...

Season’s 1st snow expected in central Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite National Park

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

RENO, Nev. (AP) — The first snowfall of the season is expected this weekend in the central Sierra Nevada, including Yosemite National Park, where as much as 10 inches (25 centimeters) is possible at the highest elevations. The National Weather Service in Reno issued a winter weather advisory on Saturday effective through 8 p.m. Sunday for California’s Mono County along the Nevada line.Slick conditions could make travel difficult over eastern Sierra mountain passes, especially over Tioga and Sonora Passes on the edge of Yosemite, the service said.Late-season backcountry enthusiasts should anticipate light snow accumulations over area trails and campgrounds, with up to a half foot of snow (15 cm) in some areas and as much as 10 inches (25 cm) above 10,000 feet (3,048 meters).Rain is forecast to move into the Lake Tahoe area Saturday with some thunderstorms and a dusting of snow above 8,000 feet (2,438 meters). Overnight lows are expected to drop below freezing at lake level.Last winte...

Kronthaler’s carnival: Westwood’s legacy finds its maverick heir in Paris

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

PARIS (AP) — An afternoon of stardom, surprise and style reverberated in the heart of Paris Fashion Week on Saturday. As Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood unfolded, it became clear: Fashion’s wild heart is alive and beating stronger than ever.Here are some highlights of spring-summer 2024 shows.FROM PANTOMIME TO PUNK: A SPECTACLE UNFOLDSPantomime ponchos, tribal silk headdresses and melted cake-like hats? Only Kronthaler could blend such disparate elements with such flair. The eccentric behind this show is no stranger to the spotlight, and it’s clear he’s carving his niche within the Westwood legacy.With celebrities like Pamela Anderson and Christina Hendricks in the front row and unmistakable cheers from Place Vendome, the brand’s meteoric rise in recent years was evident. Inside, anticipation built, amplified by gleaming percussion instruments.Delving into Kronthaler’s history with Westwood, one can trace his growth. While inspired by Westwood’s punk roots, he’s not afraid ...

Opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz appears headed to victory in the Maldives presidential runoff

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

MALE, Maldives (AP) — Opposition candidate Mohamed Muiz appeared to be headed for a win in the Maldives presidential runoff on Saturday, securing more than 53% of the vote after almost all the ballots were counted, local media reported.The election has turned into a virtual referendum on which regional power — India or China — will have the biggest influence in the Indian Ocean archipelago nation.Mihaaru News reported that incumbent President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih had received 46% of the vote and Muiz was leading by 17,000 votes, with only 11,000 votes still to be counted. Official results are expected later on Saturday. It would be a surprise win for Muiz, who entered the fray as an underdog and was named only as a fallback candidate closer to the nomination deadline after the Supreme Court prevented his party’s leader and former President Abdulla Yameen from contesting because he his serving a prison sentence for money laundering and corruption. Neither Muiz nor Solih got mo...

Apple says it will fix software problems blamed for making iPhone 15 models too hot to handle

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

Apple is blaming a software bug and other issues tied to popular apps such as Instagram and Uber for causing its recently released iPhone 15 models to heat up and spark complaints about becoming too hot to handle.The Cupertino, California, company said Saturday that it is working on an update to the iOS17 system that powers the iPhone 15 lineup to prevent the devices from becoming uncomfortably hot and is working with apps that are running in ways “causing them to overload the system.”Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, modified its social media app earlier this week to prevent it from heating up the device on the latest iPhone operating system.Uber and other apps such as the video game Asphalt 9 are still in the process of rolling out their updates, Apple said. It didn’t specify a timeline for when its own software fix would be issued but said no safety issues should prevent iPhone 15 owners from using their devices while awaiting the update.“We have identified a few co...

Tupac shooting investigator: Keefe D 'talked himself into prison'

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 14:59:31 GMT

(NewsNation) – Duane “Keefe D” Davis, the man now charged with murder in the death of Tupac Shakur, admitted in a 2019 memoir and in media interviews that he was in the car from which gunfire erupted during the drive-by in Las Vegas that killed Shakur 27 years ago. Greg Kading, a retired Los Angeles police detective who spent years investigating the killing, believes Davis has “talked himself straight into prison.”"The strength of this prosecution lies solely on the confession that Keefe D has made since 2009," Kading said during Friday's edition of "Banfield" on NewsNation.Davis has long been known to investigators as one of four suspects identified early in the investigation into the 1996 killing. Davis isn’t the accused gunman, but was described as the group’s ringleader by authorities Friday at a news conference and in court. In Nevada, a suspect can be charged with a crime, including murder, if they help someone commit the crime.“Duane Davis was the shot-caller for this group o...