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RMV hired 52 employees after driver’s license law took effect on July 1

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

The Registry of Motor Vehicles has hired 52 employees since the start of the month when a new law took effect allowing people without lawful proof of presence in the United States to seek out standard driver’s licenses.New hires have been placed at service center locations across the state just as roughly 100,000 requests for learner’s permits appointments have come in since July 1, an agency spokesperson said this week.Officials at the registry said they expected some 280,000 people to apply for a driver’s license within the first four years of the law, with the biggest demand in the first six months. The Healey administration set aside $28 million to pay for the implementation of the law.Registrar of Motor Vehicles Colleen Ogilvie previously said the RMV wanted to hire more than 200 new employees in anticipation of the law. Most of those people would be frontline service center workers who handle most of the license application work.The RMV is in the process of hiring 21 employees...

Helicopter crashes into remote Alaska lake, no survivors found, officials say

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — No survivors were found after a helicopter carrying four people crashed in a shallow lake in Alaska’s North Slope region, officials said Friday.The helicopter had been chartered by a government agency, according to the company that operated the flight. It was reported overdue late Thursday night.A North Slope Borough search and rescue team in a helicopter found debris matching the description of the missing helicopter, but no bodies had been seen or recovered, D.J. Fauske, the borough’s director of government and external affairs, said in a text to The Associated Press on Friday.The wreckage was found in a shallow lake about 50 miles south to southwest of Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow and the northernmost city in the U.S., said Clint Johnson, chief of the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region. The flight originated in Utqiagvik and was supposed to return there, Johnson said, but he did not immediately have further information on the flig...

Russia comes under pressure at UN to avoid global food crisis and revive Ukrainian grain shipments

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia came under pressure at the U.N. Security Council on Friday from its ally China and developing countries as well as Western nations to avert a global food crisis and quickly revive Ukrainian grain shipments. Moscow was also criticized by the U.N. and council members for attacking Ukrainian ports after pulling out of the year-old grain deal and destroying port infrastructure — a violation of international humanitarian law banning attacks on civilian infrastructure.In response to Russia declaring wide areas in the Black Sea dangerous for shipping, the U.N. warned that a military incident in the sea could have “catastrophic consequences.”Russia said it suspended the Black Sea Grain Initiative because the U.N. had failed to overcome obstacles to shipping its food and fertilizer to global markets, the other half of the Ukraine grain deal. The Kremlin said it would consider resuming Ukrainian shipments if progress is made in overcoming the obstacles, includi...

Comedians energize the picket lines as Hollywood actors and writers strikes enter second week

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The combined strike by Hollywood actors and screenwriters entered its second week with no swift end in sight, and union leaders and star strikers, including a bevy of comedians attempted to boost morale Friday as the novelty of picket lines wears off.“The momentum is still building,” said stand-up comic, writer and actor Marc Maron outside Netflix headquarters. “I got some of my comedy buddies — we’re like, let’s go, let’s make sure we’re there and we show up for our union. There’s a lot of people here and look, eventually they have to, they have to negotiate, right?”Maron starred on the series “GLOW” for Netflix, whose headquarters in an increasingly hip section of Hollywood has been a bustling hub during the strike, with music blasting and food trucks serving ice cream, shaved ice and churros. His fellow comedians and comic actors abounded on the picket line, including “Saturday Night Live” and “Portlandia” alum Fred Armisen, “Hacks” star Hannah Einbinder, “Broo...

The Fargo shooter used a binary trigger. Here’s what to know about the device that’s worrying police

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

Sitting in a parked car with an arsenal of weapons and ammunition, the man who fired on police officers in North Dakota earlier this month chose to use the one gun in his vehicle that was modified with a binary trigger. The device allowed the gun to fire so rapidly that it sounded like an automatic weapon. The July 14 shooting in Fargo, which killed one officer and wounded two others and a civilian, has put a spotlight on the device and other trigger modifications that are a growing concern for law enforcement. Mohamad Barakat, 37, opened fire on the officers as they responded to a car accident. He shot from his vehicle loaded with guns, a homemade grenade, gasoline canisters, propane tanks containing improvised explosives, and more than 1,800 rounds of ammunition, police said. Barakat was killed by a fourth officer who returned fire.North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley said on Friday that he believes the violence could have been the beginning of a bigger attack, as the Downto...

Tar balls are being found 100 miles downstream from Yellowstone River train derailment

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

LAUREL, Mont. (AP) — Tar balls have shown up 100 miles (161 kilometers) downstream of a railroad bridge collapse last month that sent numerous tank cars carrying petroleum products plummeting into Montana’s Yellowstone River, officials said Friday, as dropping water levels and rising temperatures hinder cleanup work.More than 66 tons (60 metric tonnes) of the black, gooey stuff have been removed from the river since the June 24 accident, officials said. Most of the spilled material — a binder for asphalt that sticks to river rocks and gets harder to handle as it warms — is expected to get left behind.Cleanup crews working this week on an island near the town of Laurel pulled long, taffy-like pieces of the asphalt from among the river rocks. They used shovels to pull apart sandbanks where receding water levels revealed pockets of contamination. The globs — along with some rocks and sand — were bagged for disposal and carried away by power boat.Navigating the river is getting ha...

DeSantis seeks review of Florida’s holdings in Bud Light maker over transgender influencer backlash

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Presidential candidate and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis wants Florida to investigate its investments in the company that makes Bud Light because of conservative backlash over a transgender social media influencer marketing the beverage. DeSantis said Thursday in a letter to the State Board of Administration that “all options are on the table” in its response to Dylan Mulvaney’s Instagram post of a video of her opening a Bud Light with her face on the can. The governor said that due to the the backlash over the post, Anheuser-Busch InBev has suffered sales losses that could affect state investments. He added that the beer manufacturer’s “radical social ideologies” have turned Bud Light into a “social pariah” and losses have been “staggering.” DeSantis has previously made headlines by battling Walt Disney World over its opposition to a Florida law banning discussion of gender identity and sexuality orientation in schools, and has targeted other com...

Tennessee now requires court order or proof of pardon to restore felon voting rights

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee has begun requiring felons who want their voting rights back to first get their full citizenship rights restored by a judge or show they were pardoned. Election officials say the step is required after a June court ruling. But attorneys representing the state’s disenfranchised felons accuse officials of searching for ways to suppress Black voters.On Friday, Tennessee Elections Coordinator Mark Goins sent a memo to local elections officials informing them of the new requirement. The secretary of state’s website was updated as well.Tennessee previously had set up a process under a 2006 law for felons to petition for the restoration of their voting rights. It allows them to seek restoration if they can show they have served their sentences and do not owe any outstanding court costs or child support. The Campaign Legal Center is already suing Tennessee in federal court over the way it implements that law. They argue, among other things, that...

Alabama lawmakers refuse to create 2nd majority-Black congressional district

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Friday refused to create a second majority-Black congressional district, a move that could defy a recent order from the U.S. Supreme Court to give minority voters a greater voice in elections and trigger a renewed battle over the state’s political map.The legislation now goes to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who is expected to sign it.Lawmakers in the Republican-dominated House and Senate instead passed a plan that would increase the percentage of Black voters from about 31% to 40% in the state’s 2nd District. A conference committee proposed the map as a compromise between plans that had percentages of 42% and 38%, respectively, for the southeast Alabama district.State lawmakers faced a deadline to adopt new lines after the Supreme Court in June upheld a three-judge panel’s finding that the current state map — with one majority-Black district out of seven in a state that is 27% Black — likely violates the federal Voting Rights Act.Voting r...

Cubs get a boost from unlikely source in win over Cardinals

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 20:53:53 GMT

CHICAGO — Of all the players in the Cubs' lineup that would be expected to use his power to provide a spark, the team's starting third baseman on Friday was probably not the choice.After all, Miles Mastrobuoni had yet to take a pitch out of the ballpark in the first 45 games of his Major League Baseball career. But the infielder would find some power to kick off a big inning for the Cubs at Wrigley Field against the Cardinals on a matinee against their division rivals - and that surge was enough for a victory.Mastrobuoni's first career home sparked a four-run third inning for the hosts, who would hold onto that advantage the rest of the way to beat St. Louis 4-3 on Friday afternoon. It's the Cubs' first win of the four-game series as they improve to 46-51 on the year.Down by a run entering the third inning, Mastrobuoni worked the count against Jack Flaherty to 3-1 before taking a pitch 411 feet to right-center for the first homer of his career. This came in his 46th game of his MLB ...