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Beacon Hill procedural war over controversial budget bill stretching into Saturday

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

A procedural war over a budget bill that includes critical funding for union contracts and the state’s ability to respond to an influx of migrants was set to stretch into Saturday after Massachusetts Republicans kept up their blockade of the proposal during Friday sessions.Democratic leadership in the House and Senate released a compromise version of the nearly $3.1 billion supplemental budget Thursday that included $250 million for Massachusetts’ struggling shelter system and nearly $400 million for 95 union contracts.But Republicans, who had voiced concerns with the shelter aid for weeks, blocked the advancing agreement two days in a row after attempting to move consideration of the bill from an informal session — where any one lawmaker can object to a proposal — to a formal session, where legislators can debate and take recorded votes.After a private meeting Friday afternoon with other House Republicans, House Minority Leader Brad Jones said his caucus would continue ...

Boston Police union, city reach tentative 5-year contract deal

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

The city has reached a deal with the largest union representing officers of the Boston Police Department, the Herald has learned.The city and the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association have reached a 5-year tentative contract deal that is pending ratification by the union members.“We are glad to have reached a tentative agreement at the negotiating table for a five-year collective bargaining contract between the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association and the City of Boston,” Mayor Michelle Wu and BPPA President Larry Calderone said in a joint statement shared with the Herald.“This tentative agreement reflects our shared focus on ensuring safety across every neighborhood and through community policing and providing necessary resources for the health and well-being of officers and their families. We are especially grateful to all the Boston Police officers who serve our city day and night with professionalism and dedication,” the statement continued.T...

Top songs in San Diego: Spotify Wrapped

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- If you don't use Spotify, you've probably felt a little left out this week as users have been sharing their top listening moments of 2023.Released yearly every December since 2016, a campaign spearheaded by the platform -- called Spotify Wrapped -- allows users to view a compilation of data about their music activity over the past year.Social media has been buzzing with Spotify Wrapped recaps, which include details like what songs were most played and how many minutes of music were listened to in total for the year. Spotify Wrapped, Apple Replay now available: How to see your top songs, artists FOX 5 reached out to the digital music service for San Diego's 2023 Spotify Wrapped. For those who are curious, a recap of the top songs, artists and genres for listeners in America's Finest City can be found below. San Diego’s Top Artists of 2023 on Spotify:Taylor SwiftDrakePeso PlumaBad BunnyThe WeekndSan Diego’s Top Songs of 2023 on Spotify:“Ella Baila Sola” by Eslabon ...

Lawyer in Ali murder trial says 13-year-old B.C. victim was not an ‘innocent’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

VANCOUVER — Ibrahim Ali’s lawyer says the 13-year-old girl he’s accused of murdering in a British Columbia park wasn’t the “innocent” depicted in a “rose-coloured” portrayal by the Crown at trial. Kevin McCullough told the B.C. Supreme Court jury in his closing arguments that the version of the girl’s lifestyle presented by the Crown is “at best, a partial picture” or “at worst, a lie.”He says the Crown’s case rests on the belief it would have been out of character for the teen to have sex with Ali.The body of the girl, who can’t be named because of a publication ban, was found in a Burnaby, B.C., park in July 2017, just hours after her mother reported her missing. McCullough says the only evidence they have against Ali is his semen, found inside the girl’s body, and the Crown has come up with a “crazy theory” where no one saw or heard anything connecting Ali to the murder. Crown at...

UFO Museum in Roswell, New Mexico, reaches 5 million visitors

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

ROSWELL, N.M. (AP) — The International UFO Museum & Research Center in Roswell, New Mexico, is celebrating an out-of-this-world milestone: 5 million visitors. A father and daughter from Roswell became the lucky visitors when they entered the museum earlier Nov. 21, the Roswell Daily Record reported. Chris and Hannah McDonald received balloons, memorabilia and a lifetime family museum membership.Museum Executive Director Karen Jaramillo said it was a surprise that Roswell residents brought them to 5 million because so many guests are from out of state. The UFO Museum, which opened in 1992, draws over 220,000 visitors each year, Jaramillo said. Roswell has been a hub for people fascinated by space and extraterrestrial phenomenon since the 1947 so-called Roswell Incident.Something crashed at what was then the J.B. Foster ranch, with the U.S. Army announcing it had recovered a “flying disc” but later saying the debris was merely the remnants of a high-altitude weather balloon.Specul...

Liberals say Tories delaying help for Ukraine as advocacy group pleads with Poilievre

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

OTTAWA — Liberals are accusing Conservatives of delaying help for Ukrainians, after a Tory motion prevented the House of Commons from voting today on a bill meant to modernize the Canada-Ukraine free trade agreement.The heated exchange in the House today comes after the Ukrainian Canadian Congress sent a letter to Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asking him to change his position on the bill.The Tories have voted against the legislation, which would implement an update to the trade agreement signed in September, saying that’s because of language in the deal that says both countries will promote carbon pricing. The bill passed through the committee stage earlier this week with the support of other parties, and the House was supposed to vote on the committee report today so the bill could move into a final stage of debate. But before that could happen, the Tories brought forward a motion to concur in an 18-month-old report on Canada’s food security.Deputy government Ho...

Man pleads guilty to 2022 firebombing of Wisconsin anti-abortion office

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man pleaded guilty Friday to firebombing the office of a prominent anti-abortion group last year.Hridindu Roychowdhury, 29, admitted to throwing two Molotov cocktails through the window of Wisconsin Family Action’s Madison office on May 8, 2022, less than a week after the leak of a draft opinion suggesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s intention overturn its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.One of the Molotov cocktails thrown into the office failed to ignite; the other set a bookcase on fire. Roychowdhury also admitted to spray-painting the message “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either” on the outside of the building. No one was in the office at the time.Investigators connected Roychowdhury to the firebombing in January, when police assigned to the state Capitol in Madison reviewed surveillance footage of a protest against police brutality. The video showed several people spray-painting graffiti on Capitol g...

Indiana coroner identifies remains of teen girl found buried on land of man charged in her death

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

ARLINGTON, Ind. (AP) — An Indiana coroner has identified the remains of a 17-year-old girl who vanished in June and whose body was found this week in a box buried on land owned by a man now charged in her slaying.The remains discovered Tuesday on suspect Patrick Scott’s property were positively identified as those of Valerie Tindall. Rush County Coroner Brenda McMahan said the cause and manner of Tindall’s death are pending toxicology reports and a final autopsy report.In a statement Thursday announcing the coroner’s findings and charges against Scott, the Rush County Sheriff’s Office said that it offered its “deepest condolences to the family and friends of Valerie Tindall during this time of mourning.”Scott, 59, was charged Thursday with murder, obstruction of justice and false informing. A judge ordered him held without bond and appointed a public defender to represent Scott during his initial hearing. The Rush County Public Defender’s office declined to c...

Putin orders Russian military to add 170,000 troops for a total of about 1.32 million

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday ordered the country’s military to increase the number of troops by nearly 170,000 to a total of 1.32 million, as Moscow’s military action in Ukraine continues into its 22nd month.Putin’s decree was released by the Kremlin on Friday and took force immediately. It brings the overall number of Russian military personnel to about 2,200,000, including 1,320,000 troops. It is the second such expansion of the army since 2018. The previous boost by 137,000 troops, ordered by Putin in Aug. 2022, put the military’s numbers at about 2 million personnel and about 1,150,000 troops. The Defense Ministry said the order doesn’t imply any “significant expansion of conscription,” saying in a statement that the increase would happen gradually by recruiting more volunteers. The ministry cited what it called “the special military operation” in Ukraine and the expansion of NATO as the reasons for beefing up the army. NATO...

Kenyan cult leader sentenced to 18 months for film violations but still not charged over mass graves

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 15:26:53 GMT

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leader of a doomsday cult in Kenya was sentenced Friday to 18 months in prison for the illegal distribution of films and operating a film studio without licenses.The senior magistrate in the city of Malindi, Olga Onalo, handed down the sentence for Paul Mackenzie. The controversial preacher can appeal within 14 days. Mackenzie was found guilty last month of exhibition of films through his Times Television network without approval of the Kenya Film Classification Board in charges dating back to 2019. He pleaded not guilty to the charges saying he didn’t know he required a license to distribute films.Mackenzie had been accused of using the TV channel and his sermons to radicalize children and parents against Western education and medicine. Prosecutors also alleged that some of his followers had refused to go to school or attend hospitals when sick. He was acquitted of those charges.The preacher has been in police custody since April, when he was arrested in c...