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Mass. Senate eyes wheelchair warranty, police interaction, fentanyl test strip reforms

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

Massachusetts senators meet Thursday in the first formal session of the year where they are expected to take up three bills dealing with wheelchair warranty protections, interactions between police and persons with autism, and fentanyl test strips.In a brief meeting Tuesday morning to close out the first half of the two-year 2023-2024 legislative session, Senate lawmakers teed up the trio of bills for debate later this week.The Thursday session represents the first major actions of the year in a chamber where its top leader identified prescription drug reform and early education care as 2024 priorities.Legislation from Sen. John Cronin, a Lunenburg Democrat, requires wheelchair manufacturers who sell their products directly or through a dealer to provide consumers an “express warranty” that lasts at least two years and cover any needed repairs for a “nonconformity.”The proposal also directs manufacturers to provide wheelchair customers with a temporary loaner within four business da...

Recipes: Here are 3 delicious dishes to make with potatoes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

Whether you call them potatoes, spuds, or taters, to my way of thinking they are the ultimate comfort food. The texture of these luscious tubers varies; some are flaky and others are waxy, some landing somewhere in between. Varieties include a wide assortment of colors, shapes, and sizes, all of which are appealing. All have rich, earthy flavor profiles.According to the 2022 Farmer’s Almanac, the average American eats 124 pounds of potatoes each year. That’s double the amount of the next largest consumed vegetable. But indeed, is the humble potato a vegetable?According to botanists, potatoes are vegetables. But the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee is considering reclassifying spuds from veggie to grain. Imagine.Here are three delicious, potato-centric dishes that showcase different varieties of spuds.A recipe for Tartiflette, a potato, bacon and cheese dish served at chalet restaurants on French ski slopes, is taken from Diana Henry’s cookbook, “Roast Figs, Sugar Snow.” (P...

Methuen woman dies after being struck by alleged drunken driver on I-495 in Andover

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

A 32-year-old Lawrence woman faces drunken driving charges after she allegedly drove while intoxicated, striking and killing a 75-year-old Methuen woman on Interstate 495 in Andover, over the weekend, according to authorities.A bail clerk has suspended and seized Jaymee K. Miller’s license and set bail at $20,000 plus the mandatory $40 bail fee following the Saturday night crash that killed Luzmila Quispe, Massachusetts State Police said Tuesday.Quispe, a backseat passenger in the car that Miller allegedly struck, died from her injuries at a Boston hospital on Monday.State troopers responded to reports from motorists of a hit-and-run on I-495 north in Andover, south of Exit 99, at around 10:45 p.m. Saturday.Initial findings indicate a 2014 Ford Edge sedan was traveling northbound when it crashed into the rear of a 2009 Honda Fit hatchback in the area of the 98.8 mile marker. The impact of the collision caused the Honda to be pushed across a breakdown line before it struck a guardrai...

Elise Stefanik cheers after Claudine Gay resigns as Harvard president: ‘TWO DOWN’

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who has been calling for Harvard University President Claudine Gay to resign following the president’s congressional testimony about antisemitism, took a victory lap on Tuesday after Gay stepped down.Stefanik’s questioning of Gay and other university leaders during the Capitol Hill hearing went viral, sparking outrage about how the campus presidents were handling the spike of antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war.Following the news broke that Gay resigned, Stefanik posted on social media, “TWO DOWN,” which is a nod to the two presidents who have quit since that congressional hearing: Gay and the former leader of the University of Pennsylvania, Liz Magill.Stefanik, a Republican from New York, called Gay’s resignation “long overdue.”“Claudine Gay’s morally bankrupt answers to my questions made history as the most viewed Congressional testimony in the history of the U.S. Congress,” Stefanik poste...

Ticker: Warren Buffett tops 2023 charity donors; Turbine tested, but no power to grid, yet

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

Investment guru Warren Buffett topped The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s annual list of the biggest charitable donations in 2023, with his $541.5 million gift to the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation, named for his first wife, who died in 2004.The 2023 list of gifts from individuals or their foundations totaled more than $3.5 billion. Four universities received big gifts, along with four scientific research institutes and a health-care system. The other gifts went to a family foundation and a racial justice group. The list has 11 gifts because of ties. Eight of the donors are multibillionaires, and their combined net worth is $305.1 billion.Buffett’s gift is followed on the list by a donation from the mathematician and hedge-fund founder James Simons and his wife, Marilyn. The couple gave $500 million through their Simons Foundation to the State University of New York at Stony Brook.Turbine tested, but no power to grid, yetThe calendar flipped to 2024 on Monday, but Massachusetts...

A Hamas official killed in a Beirut strike had been on Israel’s hit list for years

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

By BASSEM MROUE (Associated Press)BEIRUT (AP) — Saleh Arouri, the deputy political head of Hamas and a founder of the group’s military wing, had been in Israel’s sights for years before he was killed in a drone strike in a southern suburb of Beirut on Tuesday.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had threatened to kill him even before Hamas carried out its deadly surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, sparking the ongoing brutal war in Gaza. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.Israel had accused Arouri, 57, of masterminding attacks against it in the West Bank, where he was the group’s top commander. In 2015, the U.S. Department of the Treasury designated Arouri as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist offering $5 million for information about him.Asked about assassination threats against him in an interview with Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen in August, Arouri said, “It is not strange for us for the commanders...

Michigan Republicans call for meeting to consider removing chairperson Karamo amid fundraising woes

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A group of Michigan Republicans plan to meet Saturday and discuss whether to remove Michigan GOP Chairperson Kristina Karamo following months of infighting among party members ahead of key Senate and presidential contests in the swing state.It’s unclear whether enough party members will attend for the gathering to be official, and Karamo has made clear that she won’t recognize the vote either way, but the call for the meeting signals a remarkable decline in support for the chairperson among her grassroots supporters. An election conspiracist who unsuccessfully ran for secretary of state in 2022, Karamo had been overwhelmingly elected in February to lead the state party through the next presidential election.A lack of fundraising and transparency during Karamo’s tenure has pushed many of her former supporters to seek to oust her. Karamo revealed during an Oct. 19 meeting that the party had nearly $500,000 in debt and opponents have argued that ...

Gun rights groups sue Colorado over the state’s ban on ‘ghost guns,’ which lack serial numbers

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Gun rights groups have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Colorado’s ban on so-called ghost guns — firearms without serial numbers assembled at home or 3D printed that are difficult for law enforcement to trace and allow people to evade background checks.The litigation filed Monday is the latest of several Second Amendment lawsuits aimed at a slew of gun control regulations passed by Colorado’s majority Democratic legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis last year. The ban on ghost guns took effect Monday and follows a dramatic rise in their reported use in crimes, jumping by 1,000% between 2017 and 2021, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.The law bars anyone in Colorado except licensed firearm manufacturers from creating gun frames and receivers, which house internal components. It also prohibits the transport and possession of frames and receivers that don’t have serial numbers. The lawsuit filed by th...

Man shoots woman and police officers in Hawaii before being killed in New Year’s Day shootout

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — A man in Hawaii shot and wounded a woman, stole a car at gunpoint and was later killed in a shootout with police that left two officers wounded, authorities said.Police began searching for the man Monday, on New Year’s Day, after a woman said he shot her, Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan said at a news conference. The man shot at officers at three different locations before officers shot him near the University of Hawaii’s main campus in Honolulu about 4 p.m., Logan said. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died, the police chief said. Two wounded officers underwent surgery Monday. Their conditions were not immediately known Tuesday. The officers “were shot while attempting to apprehend a dangerous attempted murder suspect,” Robert Cavaco, president of the Hawaii police union said in a statement Monday. “We are praying for the full and swift recovery of our injured brothers who risked their lives and sacrificed their safety today to protect the li...

Kennedy cousin whose murder conviction was overturned sues former cop, Connecticut town

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 16:19:24 GMT

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel, whose murder conviction in the 1970s killing of a teenager in Connecticut was overturned, is suing the lead police investigator in the case and the town of Greenwich for alleged malicious prosecution, civil rights violations and other claimed wrongdoing.Skakel, 63, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy’s widow, Ethel Kennedy, was found guilty in 2002 of the 1975 bludgeoning death of Martha Moxley, who lived across the street from the Skakel family in wealthy Greenwich and whose body was found in her family’s backyard. Both Skakel and Moxley were 15 at the time of her death.The Connecticut Supreme Court overturned Skakel’s conviction in 2018, after he had served more than 11 years in prison, saying his defense lawyer failed to present evidence of an alibi. A state prosecutor announced in 2020 that Skakel would not be put on trial again and the murder charge was dropped.The new lawsuit alleges the investigator, Frank Garr, was intent...