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10-page plan rolled out by MBTA on track safety

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

The MBTA will focus on nine ways to improve track safety for employees over the next 60 days, according to a revised work plan the beleaguered agency submitted to federal officials on Monday.The 10-page plan, shared with the Herald following a public records request, puts the emphasis on enhancing communication to alert dispatchers and train operators of when and where employees will be working on the right-of-way, and providing ways for dispatchers in the operators’ control center to track worker locations.It outlines ways to tighten up training for all employees involved in work that requires right-of-way access, from those performing track construction to personnel acting as flaggers who warn of oncoming trains, to those managing this activity in the operations control center, according to the plan.“We share the goal of managing risk involving right-of-way activities, with a specific focus on reducing both the frequency and severity of incidents,” MBTA General Manager Phill...

Ancient and Honorable

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

As they have for nearly four centuries, the members of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts marched to the Common in a June tradition.The third oldest chartered military organization in the world, this year’s change of command was the Artillery Company’s 385th.Founded in 1638, the Company has left its headquarters at Faneuil Hall and marched to Common on the first Monday of every June since.Once there, the organization forms rank on the Carty Parade Ground and awaits inspection by the governor — this time Gov. Maura Healey who was greeted with the booming report of three howitzers operated by the Massachusetts National Guard’s 101st Field Artillery Group.Captain Commanding Thomas Goodfellow resigned his commission as commander of the Artillery Monday, handing the command staff to Captain Timothy Haraden, who was elected to his position by members of the Company.Members of the Aleppo Minutemen fire their muskets during the time-honored ...

Frustrations boil over for Alex Cora in series finale loss to Rays

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

After nearly a week in Boston, the Tampa Bay Rays departed on Monday evening, finally bringing an end to a frustrating series for the home team.Baseball’s winningest team arrived last Wednesday night, enjoyed a day off on Thursday and were rained out on Friday before finally beginning their four-game set against the American League East’s last-place Red Sox.To paraphrase Bill Hader’s iconic “Saturday Night Live” character Stefon, this series had everything: a heartbreaking injured list stint for Chris Sale (left shoulder inflammation), the club’s first scheduled doubleheader since 1978, a slew of defensive blunders, a surprising roster move, and an ejection.But most of all, it was a long weekend of countless brutal reminders that whether they scrimp or spend, this team still keeps landing at the bottom of the standings, craning up at a frugal-but-ferocious Florida team.The Rays were already the only team in baseball with 40 wins when they came to ...

Federal monitor: Too many people in NYC are stopped, searched and frisked illegally

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s reliance on the tactic known as “stop and frisk” as part of a new initiative to combat gun violence is harming communities of color and running afoul of the law, a court-appointed federal monitor reported Monday.Monitor Mylan Denerstein said the NYPD ‘s Neighborhood Safety Teams — special units deployed in the past 14 months to seize guns in high-crime areas — were engaging in “unconstitutional policing” by stopping and frisking too many people without justification.In one police precinct, Denerstein said, only 41 percent of stops, 32 percent of frisks and 26 percent of searches were lawful.The Neighborhood Safety Teams, a replacement for the anti-crime units that the NYPD disbanded in 2021, operate in 34 areas that account for 80% of the city’s violent crime — largely communities of color. Of the people the teams have stopped, Denerstein said, 97% are Black or Hispanic.A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said city officials “have se...

Louisiana Senate passes bill banning gender-affirming care for transgender youths

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A controversial bill — that at one point had been presumed dead — banning gender-affirming medical care for transgender youths in Louisiana was passed by the Senate on Monday and is likely to reach the governor’s desk in the coming days.The bill, which passed in the Senate mainly along party lines, 29-10, would prohibit hormone treatments, gender-affirming surgery and puberty-blocking drugs for transgender minors in Louisiana. The measure will go back to the House, which has already overwhelmingly passed the legislation, to approve of minor amendments, including pushing back the effective date of the law to Jan. 1, 2024.If the House concurs, the legislation would be sent to the desk of Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat who opposes it. Edwards has not said whether he would veto the bill. If he does, lawmakers could convene a veto session to try to override his decision. Last session, Edwards chose not to block a law banning transgender athletes from part...

B.C. officials push back against safe supply critics and their ‘polarizing rhetoric’

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

VICTORIA — British Columbia officials have sought to rebut claims that drugs prescribed through the province’s safe supply program aimed at curbing overdoses are being re-sold to young people, helping fuel the deadly drug toxicity crisis.B.C.’s representative for children and youth, Jennifer Charlesworth, said her office reviews injury and death reports involving young people and she hasn’t seen any sign that youth are either using drugs “diverted” from the safe supply program, or that they are suffering overdoses from such drugs.Instead, she said “polarizing rhetoric” on the issue was causing harm.“Safe supply is an alternative to the poison that is available on the street, and I’ll repeat, for emphasis, what I said earlier: there’s no indication from our data that diverted safe supply is causing overdoses for children and youth,” she said.“Is it possible that diversion will be an issue in the future? Anything is pos...

Oregon is invested in Fox Corp. and is investigating its board over bogus election fraud claims

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s attorney general announced Monday she has begun investigating the board of directors of Fox Corp. for breaching its fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast false claims about the 2020 presidential election — claims that cost the broadcaster almost $800 million in a lawsuit. Also joining the investigation is Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Read, who oversees the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund, which owns more than 250,000 shares of Fox stock. Both Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Read are Democrats.“Treasurer Read and I believe that Fox’s board of directors breached its fiduciary duties by allowing Fox News to broadcast false claims that Dominion and Smartmatic rigged the 2020 presidential election,” Rosenblum said. “We hope to hold the board accountable and protect the long-term value of Oregon’s investment in Fox Corp.”The head of Fox’s corporate communications did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ...

Ontario farmers say buying local food more important than ever amid various challenges

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

As Ontario continues to deal with the effects of inflation, hotter and drier weather, labour shortages, farmers say now is more important than ever to support the province’s agricultural sector.“Supporting local supports our Ontario community as a whole,” Kelty Mackay, a co-owner of Willow Tree Farm in Port Perry, said during a tour of the property on Monday.“We shop in our towns. Keeping that money here in Ontario, I think, is a really important way for the future for us to guarantee that our land and our people are able to enjoy fruits and vegetables for (the) future.”Beginning on June 5, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture marked the beginning of local food week — an effort to promote buying food from local vendors and visiting one of the nearly 180 farmers markets in Ontario. Willow Tree Farm has 150 acres of fields for growing various vegetables and fruits, all of which are handpicked.“We grow everything from asparagus to rhubarb, gre...

Victims plan to sue sheriff for failing to get red flag order against Colorado Springs club shooter

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Some victims of the mass shooting at a gay club in Colorado Springs last year plan to sue authorities for not trying to block the shooter from buying guns before the attack.According to legal notices obtained by The Denver Post on Monday, 11 survivors and relatives of those killed notified the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office last month that they intended to file lawsuits over the failure to obtain an extreme risk protection, or red flag, order against Anderson Aldrich, who is charged with killing five people and injuring 22 others at Club Q in November 2022. State law allows authorities and others to get a court order to seize someone’s guns and prevent them from legally buying more if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others.The notices, which were first reported by the Colorado Springs Independent, must be given before people file lawsuits against government agencies and provide a chance to reach a settlement instead. The victims are seeking more ...

Demolition company vows repairs after a blast of air during an implosion damaged nearby homes

Published Mon, 16 Dec 2024 12:45:23 GMT

SPRINGDALE, Pa. (AP) — A blast of air and dust from the implosion of two smokestacks at a shuttered coal-fired power plant in western Pennsylvania last week felled power poles and caused damage to nearby homes. But the demolition company is vowing full repairs.The implosion at the Cheswick Generating Station in Springdale, a borough just northeast of Pittsburgh, occurred shortly after 8 a.m. Friday, bringing the stacks down with a loud crash and a huge cloud of dust. One tower stood about 550 feet (170 meters) tall and the other 750 feet (230 meters).Controlled Demolition said in a statement that the chimneys fell “exactly where they were supposed to” and noise and vibration levels were “well below” allowable state environmental protection limits, KDKA-TV reported. But, the company said, the larger chimney’s steel liner “focused air pressure as it collapsed upon impact.” Bruno Moretti, Allegheny County’s emergency management coordinator, said the air blast broke wi...