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Maura Healey expects Massachusetts to spend $915 million on emergency shelters in FY25

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

The Healey administration expects it will need to spend $915 million on emergency assistance shelters in Massachusetts in fiscal year 2025, according to a report executive officials prepared for the Legislature’s two budget writing committees.The report from Administration and Finance Secretary Matthew Gorzkowicz and Housing Secretary Ed Augustus lays out in detail many financial aspects of the shelter system that were largely unknown, including a blueprint for how Gov. Maura Healey expects the state to continue handling a struggling shelter system moving forward.The estimated nearly $1 billion spend takes into account shelter and associated services, staffing, intake sites, clinical and safety risk assessment sites, school district reimbursements, immigration and refugee health, community, and workforce supports, and municipal supports, according to the report, a copy of which was provided to the Herald Monday afternoon.“While $915 million represents projected fiscal year 2025 cost...

Robbins: Recklessness, ignorance go viral in America

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

“There’s a recklessness in the air in America” was the elegant yet apt way ABC News journalist Terry Moran put it on Friday evening. Moran made the observation in the context of Rudy Giuliani’s misbegotten belief that he could egregiously defame two Georgia poll workers and get away with it. He didn’t. The “say anything” ethos Giuliani appears to have absorbed from Donald Trump backfired spectacularly on New York’s former mayor, who was hit by a defamation verdict against him of $148 million, and that’s a whole lot of hair dye.That recklessness, that disregard for either truth or consequences, afflicts both sides of the political divide. A Harvard/Harris poll released last weekend showed that a majority of Americans aged 18-24 are sufficiently untethered to tell pollsters that it would be good and just for Hamas, an internationally acknowledged terrorist organization which slaughtered 1,200 Israelis in cold blood on Oct. 7, to displace the state of Israel. That this cohort receives ...

Iceland volcano erupts weeks after thousands were evacuated from a town on Reykjanes Peninsula

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

STOCKHOLM (AP) — A volcanic eruption started Monday night on Iceland’s Reykjanes Peninsula, turning the sky orange and prompting the civil defense to be put on high alert.The eruption appears to have occurred about 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the town of Grindavík, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. Webcam video from the scene appears to show magma, or semi-molten rock, spewing along the ridge of a hill.In November, police evacuated the town or Grindavik after strong seismic activity in the area damaged homes and raised fears of an imminent eruption.A coast guard helicopter will attempt to confirm the exact location — and size — of the eruption.Grindavik, a fishing town of 3,400, sits on the Reykjanes Peninsula, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) southwest of the capital, Reykjavik and not far from Keflavik Airport, Iceland’s main facility for international flights. The nearby Blue Lagoon geothermal resort, one of Iceland’s top tourist a...

Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 111 people in Gansu and Qinghai provinces

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — At least 111 people were killed in a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in a mountainous region in northwestern China, the country’s state media reported on Tuesday. The official Xinhua News Agency said that 100 people died in the province of Gansu and another 11 in the neighboring province of Qinghai in the quake, which occurred just before midnight on Monday. More than 200 people were injured, Xinhua said, 96 in Gansu and 124 in Qinghai. The quake struck in Gansu’s Jishishan county, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the provincial boundary with Qinghai. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake’s magnitude at 5.9.State broadcaster CCTV reported that there was damage to water and electricity lines, as well as transportation and communications infrastructure.The earthquake was felt in Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) southwest of the capital of Beijing. University students in Lanzhou rushed out of their dorms, acco...

Earthquake in northwestern China kills at least 111 people in Gansu, Qinghai provinces

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — At least 111 people were killed in a magnitude 6.2 earthquake in a mountainous region in northwestern China, the country's state media reported on Tuesday. The official Xinhua News Agency said that 100 people died in the province of Gansu and another 11 in the neighboring province of Qinghai in the quake, which occurred just before midnight on Monday. More than 200 people were injured, Xinhua said, 96 in Gansu and 124 in Qinghai. The quake struck in Gansu's Jishishan county, about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the provincial boundary with Qinghai. The U.S. Geological Survey put the quake’s magnitude at 5.9.State broadcaster CCTV reported that there was damage to water and electricity lines, as well as transportation and communications infrastructure.The earthquake was felt in Lanzhou, the Gansu provincial capital, about 1,450 kilometers (900 miles) southwest of the capital of Beijing. University students in Lanzhou rushed out of their dorms, according to a social media ...

It's lobster season: San Diego Bay ranked second best place in CA to catch lobsters

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO (KSWB) -- Lobster season is underway, and San Diego Bay is ranked as the second best location in California to catch the crustaceans.The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) lists San Diego Bay as the second top location to catch California spiny lobster, based on the percent of reported catch for the 2022/2023 season. The No. 1 location for last year's season was Catalina Island, with Carlsbad to Oceanside coming in at No. 10. CDFW 2022/2023 Top 10 Locations (by percent of reported catch):Catalina Island (13.3%)San Diego Bay (12.9%)Point Vicente to King Harbor (6.2%)Santa Cruz Island (5.5%)Long Beach/Middle Breakwater (5.4%)Zuniga Jetty (3.6%)King Harbor to Santa Monica (3.1%)Santa Monica to Malibu Point (3.1%)Laguna Beach to Newport Beach (3.0%)Carlsbad to Oceanside (2.4%)Recreational lobster season opens the first Wednesday in October and runs through the first Wednesday after March 15 each year. SeaWorld San Diego takes in cold-stunned sea turtle found ...

NASA streams first-ever high-definition video from deep space

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

SAN DIEGO (KSWB) -- NASA has made history once again as they successfully streamed a video from 19 million miles away.The ultra-high definition streaming video experiment was conducted on Dec. 11 by NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) team, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in southern California reported Monday. JPL says the technology is the first step to improving communications for future human missions beyond Earth's orbit. DSOC's experiment on the recently launched Psyche spacecraft -- NASA’s first mission to the metal-rich asteroid Psyche -- sent the 15-second video back to Earth, which features Taters the cat chasing a red laser. The video featuring Taters, a JPL employee's cat, was uploaded before Psyche's launch and sent back from 19 million miles away. Tater’s heart rate, color and breed were also on display in the video. NASA scientists find evidence of ‘key ingredient for life’ on one of Saturn’s moons “This accomplishment underscores our commitment t...

Jonathan Majors’ Marvel ouster after assault conviction throws years of Disney’s plans into disarray

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Marvel had more riding on Jonathan Majors than perhaps any other actor. Now it’s parting ways with him, and throwing years of plans for its cinematic universe in disarray.Marvel Studios and the Walt Disney Co. dropped Majors from all future projects following the actor’s conviction for assault and harassment on Monday, according to a person close to the studio who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter.The swift move by Disney marked a stunning about-face for an actor who had been one of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars. A Manhattan jury on Monday found the 34-year-old Majors guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation for a March altercation with his then-girlfriend Grace Jabbari.Majors, who was acquitted of a different assault charge and of aggravated harassment, will be sentenced on Feb. 6. He declined to comment as he left the courthouse. Majors’ attorney, Priy...

Leaders seek to expand crime-fighting net of cameras and sensors beyond New Mexico’s largest city

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s largest city is blanketed with 10,000 cameras, license plate readers along some of the busiest roadways and special listening devices that hone in on the sound of gunfire — all part of a technological net of sorts that Albuquerque authorities say has been an integral part of addressing high crime rates and record homicides. With the push of a button, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller revealed the city’s Real Time Crime Center behind what had been a wall of opaque glass just moments earlier. Video feeds from city intersections and bus stops played out simultaneously on a massive screen that covered one wall as individual stations were outfitted with numerous smaller monitors. There were feeds from local news stations and social media streaming as well as access to databases that included criminal records and facial recognition.It’s meant to be one-stop shopping for Albuquerque police officers, providing real-time information as they ...

Hawaii governor’s first budget after Maui wildfire includes funds for recovery and fire prevention

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:57:49 GMT

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Monday said he was requesting $425 million from lawmakers during the next fiscal year to help Maui recover from August’s wildfires — and millions more to reduce the risk of wildfires statewide. The proposed budget is Green’s first since a fast-moving wildfire killed at least 100 people and destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina on Aug. 8. “We took to heart our need to care for those who lost everything on Maui. We’re going to make them whole. We’re going to help them survive,” Green said at a news conference. The blaze displaced about 12,000 people, half of whom are still living in hotels due to a severe housing shortage on the island. Wildfires have long been relatively rare in Hawaii, which is better known for a lush landscape of rainforests and waterfalls. But climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of droughts, raising the risk of wildfires on the islands.The federal government is covering the expens...