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Massachusetts pot boss was suspended for racist remarks: report

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said that she takes allegations that suspended state pot boss Shannon O’Brien made racist remarks “very seriously” and wants O’Brien given an opportunity to address them “without further delay.”“The Treasurer takes these allegations very seriously, which is why she wants to provide Chair O’Brien with the opportunity to address them without further delay, and with a fair process that provides an opportunity for her to do that,” Goldberg’s director of communications Andrew Napolitano wrote in a statement provided to the Herald.O’Brien was suspended with pay from her $181,722 post as chair of the state’s Cannabis Control Commission in September for reasons that were never very clear. Weeks after the suspension, Treasurer Goldberg said that she was left no alternative but to suspend O’Brien following an investigative report compiled by an outside law firm that made “several serious allegations.” Those allegations were not disclosed and the report...

Foot injury will sideline Chicago Bulls’ Zach LaVine for a week: ‘It felt a little better and just progressively got worse’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

For Zach LaVine, the last two weeks have been defined by one thing — not the latest round of trade rumors but an injury to his right foot.The Chicago Bulls star guard will be sidelined a week with a right foot sprain he incurred during a home game against the Miami Heat on Nov. 20. That means he likely will miss Friday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Wednesday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets and a Dec. 8 road game against the San Antonio Spurs.LaVine continued to attempt to play through the injury but has never fully recovered. He sat out a road game against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Nov. 22, then played the following two road games before being yanked early in a blowout loss to the Boston Celtics and sat out Thursday’s win against the Milwaukee Bucks.When he did play, LaVine’s mobility appeared to be limited. He scored 13 points in each of the Heat games, then turned around and dropped 36 points in his return against the Toronto Raptor...

Inmate who stabbed Derek Chauvin 22 times is charged with attempted murder, prosecutors say

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

By MICHAEL R. SISAK and MICHAEL BALSAMO (Associated Press)An incarcerated former gang member and one-time FBI informant was charged Friday with attempted murder in the stabbing of ex-Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin at a federal prison in Arizona.John Turscak stabbed Chauvin 22 times at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tucson and said he would have killed Chauvin had correctional officers not responded so quickly, federal prosecutors said.Turscak, serving a 30-year sentence for crimes committed while a member of the Mexican Mafia gang, told investigators he thought about attacking Chauvin for about a month because the former officer, convicted of murdering George Floyd, is a high-profile inmate, prosecutors said. Turscak later denied wanting to kill Chauvin, prosecutors said.Turscak is accused of attacking Chauvin with an improvised knife in the prison’s law library around 12:30 p.m. on Nov. 24, the day after Thanksgiving. The Bureau of Prisons said employees st...

'We still need to do the business of the city': Chula Vista mayor reacts to council holdup

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

CHULA VISTA, Calif. -- Embattled Chula Vista city councilmember Andrea Cardenas has missed the last two city council meetings and now, city leaders are calling for her to step down. Cardenas has pleaded not guilty to mishandling COVID-19 relief funds and has vowed to not step down from the Chula Vista City Council. “She said she was sick. This last meeting, she was not at. She just today went ahead and sent a memo and said she didn’t make it for health reasons as well,” Chula Vista Mayor John McCann said to FOX 5 on Thursday. "We need to make sure that we have councilmembers that show up and whether they agree with me or not, we still need to do the business of the city."Now, city leaders are complaining of commission appointments being shelved and votes being delayed. Mikey Williams pleads guilty to single count of making criminal threats “If you can’t show up at the council meeting, then you should resign,” said John Moot, a former councilmember. "Have her paycheck garnere...

Movie armorer in ‘Rust’ fatal shooting pleads not guilty to unrelated gun charge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The weapons supervisor on the film set where Alec Baldwin shot and killed a cinematographer in 2021 waived her arraignment in a separate case, pleading not guilty to a charge of carrying a gun into a Santa Fe bar. Hannah Gutierrez-Reed had been set to appear in court next week on the charge, but a state courts spokesperson said Friday that her attorneys opted instead to waive her appearance. Her attorneys did not immediately respond to a message that The Associated Press left Friday seeking comment.The firearm charge against Gutierrez-Reed stems from an incident days before she was hired to work as the armorer on “Rust.” According to court records, a witness told authorities that she was carrying a gun when she walked into a bar in downtown Santa Fe.Gutierrez-Reed also is awaiting trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and evidence tampering stemming from the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal on the “Rust” movie set on O...

Why you should vaccinate your dog against leptospirosis in Ontario

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

When Helen Da Silva’s six-year old Maltese Charlie refused his dinner one recent Friday night, she couldn’t have anticipated how quickly the situation would escalate or the harrowing ordeal that was to follow.When he still looked ill the next morning, she decided to take him to the vet. “He was looking very mushy, just not like himself at all. Because he was a very playful puppy,” she tells CityNews.Initial tests showed some inflammation in the dog’s stomach and bowels so a blood test was done and a broad-spectrum antibiotic was prescribed.That night, Charlie continued to refuse food and by noon the next day, Da Silva received news that his kidney levels were “elevated.”A visit to the emergency clinic and ultrasounds followed along with more bloodwork which revealed that Charlie had contracted a disease called leptospirosis.“I’d never heard of it,” says Da Silva. “[Thereafter] we were referred to the Ontario Veterinar...

UN ends political mission in Sudan, where world hasn’t been able to stop bloodshed

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United Nations Security Council voted Friday to end its political mission of a few hundred people dedicated to ending the civil war in Sudan.Russia abstained from the unanimous vote to end UNITAMS, the United Nations Integrated Transition Assistance Mission in Sudan. The United States’ and United Kingdom’s ambassadors expressed dismay over the decision to pull out from Sudan but said the move was inevitable, given the Sudanese government’s desire to end the mission’s presence.While the United States voted in favor of this resolution in order to enable a safe and orderly drawdown, U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood said, “we are gravely concerned that a reduced international presence in the Sudan will only serve to embolden the perpetrators of atrocities.” A paramilitary group known as the Rapid Support Forces, which was born out of the notorious Janjaweed militias, has been at war against the Sudanese military since mid-April, when m...

Man with ties to Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax killed in Calgary drive-by shooting

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

CALGARY — Police say a man with ties to Vancouver, Edmonton and Halifax has been killed in a drive-by shooting in Calgary.Officers responded to reports of gunshots in the Beltline neighbourhood, south of downtown, just after 9 p.m. Thursday.Police say they found the 40-year-old man with apparent gunshot wounds.Video collected from the area shows the man had been walking along 10th Avenue S.W. when a dark-coloured SUV pulled up and an occupant fired multiple shots before fleeing.Police say the man, whose name won’t be released until next of kin is notified, is not believed to be from Calgary but does have ties to the other cities.They say investigators don’t have information to suggest whether it was a targeted shooting.“This volatile incident showed a blatant disregard for human life and jeopardized the safety of bystanders,” said Det. Lee Treit of the Calgary Police Service homicide unit. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 1, 2023.The...

US border officials are closing a remote Arizona crossing because of overwhelming migrant arrivals

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

LUKEVILLE, Ariz. (AP) — So many migrants are crossing from Mexico into the United States around remote Lukeville, Arizona that U.S. officials say they will close the port of entry there so that the operations officials who watch over vehicle and pedestrian traffic going both ways can help Border Patrol agents arrest and process the new arrivals. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Friday that the temporary closure of the crossing will start Monday as officials grapple with changing migration routes that have overwhelmed Border Patrol agents stationed there. The agency said it is “surging all available resources to expeditiously and safely process migrants” and will “continue to prioritize our border security mission as necessary in response to this evolving situation.”The area around the desert crossing has become a major migration route in recent months, with smugglers dropping off people from countries as diverse as Senegal, India and China. Most of them are wal...

Appeals court takes DeSantis’ side in challenge to a map that helped unseat a Black congressman

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:18:28 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The Florida Legislature didn’t violate the state constitution when it approved congressional maps pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that helped the GOP replace a Black Democratic representative with a white conservative, an appeals court ruled Friday.The 1st District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court’s ruling that the map that rewrote U.S. Rep. Alan Lawson’s district was unconstitutional because it diminished Black voters’ ability to elect a candidate of their choice.DeSantis pushed to have the district dismantled. He argued that the federal Constitution doesn’t allow race to be considered in drawing congressional maps and that the district didn’t adhere to requirements that it be compact. Lawson’s district stretched about 200 miles (320 kilometers) from downtown Jacksonville west to rural Gadsden County along the Georgia border.Voting rights groups had argued the new map was unconstitutional because it dis...