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CERT volunteers in Broward ready to assist people as hurricane season begins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

As we head into another hurricane season, there’s a group of volunteers standing by to help if a storm hits our area. Karen Hensel introduces us to them in tonight’s 7 Spotlight.When parts of Broward County ended up underwater during that massive rainstorm in April, some of the first emergency response work came from citizen volunteers who lived in the flooded neighborhoods.Mark Miller, CERT Deputy Operations Chief: “So we have our people that are already in the field, and they’re calling in to the Emergency Operations Center saying, ‘Here’s what it’s like in Edgewater. Here’s what it’s like here. Here’s what’s going on there,’ so they’re tremendously important.”Mark Miller helps run the Fort Lauderdale Community Emergency Response Team, also called CERT.He is one of the hundreds of people who have volunteered to be on the front lines if a disaster strikes in South Florida.Mark Miller: “We̵...

‘We should not have a snow day in June’: Teachers, children, parents gather after falling concrete in Somerville school prompts canceled classes

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

The Winter Hill Community Innovation School in Somerville was closed Friday after a section of concrete fell into a stairwell inside the building, school and city officials said. While engineers were set to “conduct a more thorough review of the building,” many parents, children and teachers gathered elsewhere at the Somerville Public Library where they discussed the situation and ongoing concerns about building conditions at the Winter Hill School. “This is a situation that we should not be in,” said Winter Hill School Dean of Students Brendan Buckland. “We should not have a snow day in June.”Officials said the concrete fell outside school operating hours, while the school was unoccupied. The stairwell was later closed to students and staff. Officials said Department of Public Works crews had then “conducted minor repairs” and had been monitoring the building’s interior as of Thursday night. The closure on Friday, though, came “out of an abundance of caution,” according t...

Orioles put reliever Mychal Givens back on IL, call up Baltimore-area native Bruce Zimmermann

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

The Orioles brought back Mychal Givens to supply a veteran presence to their bullpen. His availability in it continues to be limited.After the 33-year-old right-hander spent most of the first two months of the season on the injured list with left knee inflammation, right shoulder inflammation has landed him back on the 15-day IL.In four innings this season since his May 21 activation, Givens, signed to a one-year deal this winter after pitching for Baltimore from 2015 to 2020, has issued six walks and allowed six runs (five earned). His average fastball velocity, according to Baseball Savant, was 91.7 mph, down 3 mph from two seasons ago.Left-hander Bruce Zimmermann, an Ellicott City native, will take Givens’ place on the roster. The 28-year-old has had stints with the Orioles over the past three seasons and has a 4.05 ERA in nine starts this year with Triple-A Norfolk. Baltimore’s rotation lacks a fifth starter, but the timing of the call-up and the club’s upcomin...

WooSox bat boy makes the grab of the night at Fenway, gains fame from Red Sox Nation

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

The bat boy for the WooSox says he’s living the dream.Aaron Buckley, an 18-year-old lifelong Red Sox fanatic, became the man of the night when he grabbed Connor Wong’s two-run homer in the first row atop the Green Monster during the eighth inning of Thursday’s 8-2 win against Cincinnati.“I definitely got some height on it,” Buckley told the Herald on Friday. “I just kind of jumped up and threw my glove up there, and I think I just put it in the right spot. There wasn’t too much time to think.”Before the magical moment, Buckley had already been standing up, since the Red Sox had put the game away by scoring four runs in the eighth, which he said helped make the difference.Kike Hernandez hit a solo blast to the Monster seats an inning earlier to give the Red Sox a one-run lead at the time, 2-1. The ball landed a few sections away from Buckley.“It was more like, ‘Wow, that ball got out of here quick, so I have to be ready if something is coming near me,’” Buckley said of his mindset th...

Bug in Chase Bank online banking causes double transactions, fees; bank now says situation resolved

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

By KEN SWEET (AP Business Writer)NEW YORK (AP) — Customers of Chase’s online banking services saw double transactions, fees and payments in their accounts on Friday, in a glitch that was not fixed until late in the day.Numerous Chase customers had posted on social media that their rent or bill payments were taken out of their accounts twice and reported hold times with customer service approaching more than an hour. The New York-based bank is one of the country’s largest financial institutions with millions of online customers. Transactions over Zelle, the bank’s own peer-to-peer payment service, were also impacted with Chase customers.Chase said late Friday that the bank had “resolved the underlying issue” and was in the process of issuing refunds or reversing transactions for customers. Online banking services, while usually reliable, sometimes spectacularly fail or have temporary outages that tend to spook their customers. Banks typically will ...

Chicago Bears listen to proposal from Naperville for stadium site. Arlington Heights ‘no longer our singular focus,’ team says.

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

Chicago Bears officials met with Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli on Friday to discuss the possibility of abandoning their plans for a new stadium development in Arlington Heights in favor of building it in the western suburb.In a move that could be used as bargaining leverage, the team said in a statement Friday that plans to build “the largest single development project in Illinois history” are “at risk” in Arlington Heights.The Bears objected that recent tax hikes on the former Arlington Park racetrack, which the Bears bought this year, would result in taxes far higher than its worth while it is not operational.“We will continue the ongoing demolition activity and work toward a path forward in Arlington Heights, but it is no longer our singular focus,” team officials wrote. “It is our responsibility to listen to other municipalities in Chicagoland about potential locations that can deliver on this transformational opportunity for our fans, o...

MIAA girls lacrosse tournament preview, picks

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

For the first time in what feels like a few years, it has become truly difficult to handicap the Div. 1 girls lacrosse playoff field. Prior to this season, it seemed like you could circle one to three programs, and water would ultimately find its level when the premier teams met in the finals.Now? That is no longer the case. There are plenty of schools in the hunt. So the question is, what will make the difference when it comes to crunch time? Experience could play a role.Which is why it is quite possible that a school such as Westwood (18-3) could find itself in the winner’s circle again, despite being slotted as the third overall seed. The Wildcats have been propelled by a pair of UMass Amherst commits with Ava Connaughton and Lillian Hancock leading the charge, along with Dartmouth-bound Riley Harrington, as well as Kella McGrail, who is headed for Davidson.Who else will make noise? Well, take your pick. Lincoln-Sudbury enters as the top-ranked team, while Steve Balter’s group at...

North End restaurant owners drop lawsuit against Boston mayor

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

Four North End restaurant owners dropped their lawsuit against Mayor Michelle Wu, retracting claims that she showed anti-Italian discrimination when singling out their neighborhood for last year’s $7,500 outdoor dining fee.The owners, who collectively represent five restaurants, requested that the May 2022 lawsuit be dismissed “without prejudice,” according to their attorney, Richard Chambers, who filed the motion to dismiss in U.S. District Court Wednesday.“We have a hearing coming up and at this point, my client instructed me to dismiss the complaint,” Chambers said Friday, referring to Jorge Mendoza-Iturralde of Vinoteca di Monica. “I got him to the second level and for whatever reasons he doesn’t want to go forward.”Chambers added that his client did not provide specifics on why he chose not to pursue the case, but said it was likely because “he was the only one fighting.”“Nobody else is rallying around him,” Chambers said. “It’s just him. You know that old say...

Lies, complaints and Larry Nassar: Takeaways from the records detailing Jeffrey Epstein’s final days

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly four years after Jeffrey Epstein’s death, thousands of pages of records obtained by The Associated Press are shedding new light on the financier’s time behind bars and a frantic response by federal corrections officials to his death.The documents, including emails between jail officials and psychological evaluations, offer a fuller picture of Epstein as he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges at the now-shuttered Metropolitan Correctionalnassar Center.Epstein killed himself at the federal jail in 2019. In the days and weeks that followed, corrections officials struggled to explain how such a high-profile detainee had managed to take his own life.The records show how he was moved from the jail’s general population to specialized housing and how he was briefly on suicide watch before being downgraded to psychiatric observation — his status when he killed himself.Here are takeaways from the more than 4,000 pages of documents:AN AGITATED INMATEEpstein wa...

Things to know about the case of a Missouri doctor found dead in Arkansas

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 19:30:31 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A doctor in the Missouri Ozarks went missing for over a week until his body was found in an Arkansas lake. But the case remains shrouded in mystery as investigators have released few details to his family or the public.WHAT’S KNOWN SO FARDr. John Forsyth, 49, was last seen alive on May 21, when security cameras in the parking lot of a public pool in Cassville show him getting into a vehicle, after leaving his own car unlocked with his wallet, two phones, a laptop and other items inside. That’s according to his brother, Richard Forsyth, who said the doctor had texted his new fiancee that morning saying he would see her soon. His car was found later that day. Investigators haven’t said who was driving the other vehicle.A search began after the emergency room physician didn’t show up for his May 21 shift at Mercy Hospital in Cassville. There was no sign of Forsyth until a kayaker noticed his body in Arkansas on May 30, at a spot on Beaver Lake ...